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METHOD AND METHODS 

IN THE TEACHING 

OF ENGLISH 



BY 



V, ISRAEL EDWIN GOLDWASSER 

^^.. PUBLIC SCHOOLS, NEW YORK 



D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS 
BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 



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COPYRIGHT, 1913, 

BY D. C. HEATH & CO. 

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PREFACE 

To affect the various motives that may prompt an author to 
add one more to the many books on methods of teaching that are 
now available, there seem to be two very good reasons why a new 
text on the teaching of English may be deemed unnecessary. In 
the first place, there are a number of excellent discussions of the 
general phases of the subject and of special branches, which are 
sound in principle and scholarly in analysis of the material. 
Secondly, in these days when so much is said in favor of allowing 
the initiative of the teacher to find full expression, any book 
which prescribes definite methods of teaching may be said to set 
itself against the trend of modern theory. 

Despite these considerations, however, I have long felt that 
there is a definite need for the kind of treatment of the subjects 
connected with the teaching of Enghsh in the elementary schools 
that I have given in this book. There is a real need of specific 
suggestions as to a rational mode of approaching and developing 
the work in English. Teachers are everywhere asking for direc- 
tions which will give them not so much a model for direct imita- 
tion as a basis for intelligent self-criticism. This book aims to 
present a consistent method of work in all the branches of 
elementary Enghsh. While drawing freely from the various 
accepted texts, and adopting without hesitation many valuable 
suggestions from teachers and writers in all grades of the work, it 
claims consideration for this original feature: It aims to separate 
the teaching of technique from the teaching for appreciation and 
self-expression, and it seeks to found its methods upon a definite 
psychology of the learning process. 

No attempt has been made to exhaust every part of the subject 
or to be so definite as to make original thought on the part of 
the teacher unnecessary. The purpose of this book is to stimulate 



vi PREFACE 

and to direct the effort of the teacher, and to lessen her work only 
by making unsuccessM experimentation unnecessary. 

Thanks are due to Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., for permission 
to use extracts from the letters of OUver Wendell Holmes, and to 
Messrs. Harper & Brothers for the right to publish parts of letters 
by James Russell Lowell. Much of the compilation of devices in 
Chapters IH, and IV, and of the models used in Composition was 
done by Miss Rose A. McManus, formerly my assistant, whose 
help merits cordial appreciation. My thanks are also due to Dr. 
John H. Haaren, Associate City Superintendent of Schools, New 
York, for valuable suggestions. 

To the hundreds of teachers whose work both in the class-room 
and in various texts has been the inspiration for all that is valuable 
in this book, I submit the result of a labor no less truly theirs 
than my own. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Reading — General Considerations i 

II. Primary Reading . 6 

III. Primary Reading - Phonics 4 13 

IV. Overcoming Defects in Speech ...... 30 

V. The Reading Lesson 41 

Intermediate Grades. 

VT. Reading to a Class 49 

VTI. Study of the Masterpiece 53 

VIII. Study of the Masterpiece (continued) .... 75 

DC. Study of the Masterpiece (concluded) .... 82 

X. The Oral Reproduction of Stories 93 

XI. Memory Gems 108 

XII. Spelling 119 

XIII. Dictation 131 

XIV. Composition * 141 

XV. Composition (continued) 148 

The Study of Models. 

XVI. How the Model is to be used 157 

XVII. Composition — Letter Writing 163 

Models to be Studied. 

XVin. Composition — Narration 198 

Models to be Studied. 

XIX. Composition — Description ....... 211 

Models to be Studied. 

XX. Composition — Exposition 222 

Models to be Studied. 

XXI. The Correction of Compositions 227 



viii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XXII. Composition 236 

Composition — Suggestions and Devices 

XXIII. Grammar 242 

General Considerations 

XXIV. Grammar {continued) 253 

Intermediate Grades 

XXV. Grammar {concluded) 261 

Formal Study 



THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

CHAPTER I 
READING — GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 

Teachers welcome specific suggestions. But any attempt 
to establish, on the basis of detailed injunctions, a general mode 
of procedure in the teaching of a subject, usually results in con- 
fusion. Accordingly, it may be of value in our exposition of 
methods in the teaching of reading in the elementary schools, to 
lay down a few general principles. 

Educationally, we are in a transitional stage. The sudden 
and bewildering changes effected in our course of study, the 
quick shifting from one system to another, the glad welcome 
given to all new schemes — all these are evidences of a state of 
unrest. This extends not only to questions of organization and 
problems of the curriculum, but to details of method as well. 
While such a condition is indicative of progress, it is fatal to the 
teacher who cannot see the goal toward which all these changes 
are tending. 

In the teaching of reading, this is peculiarly true. Educa- 
tional reform is usually the reflex of some larger movement in 
the world at large. In America, the problem of assimilating 
the varied nationalities entering in ever increasing numbers has 
shaped political, economic, and educational affairs for the last 
quarter century. In our large cities the teaching of English, 
for example, is no longer the teaching of the mother- tongue. 
It is often the teaching of a foreign language, and the problem 
is the difficult one of giving perfect familiarity with a language, 
practice in which is for the first few years at all events confined 
to the school. 



2 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

While this factor has made the teaching of reading a matter 
of increasing difficulty in our urban schools, it does not account 
for the complete change that has taken place in our method of 
teaching. Hundreds of years ago, book knowledge was com- 
pletely removed from every day life. Restricted, as it frequently 
was, to the members of the upper classes, it did not give to them 
any material which could be used in the larger life outside of the 
church or the university. This separation between real life and 
the knowledge to be gained from books has remained a char- 
acteristic of so-called education through the centuries. The 
distinctive mark of the learned man was not his ability to handle 
men and affairs, nor his power to judge of events, for the content 
of his learning was set utterly apart from the real Hfe of the 
times. The mere clerk was the educated man; the man who 
could read and write, and who knew the insides of books. 
Knowledge of the technique of reading and writing was sufficient 
to stamp the learned man. And this idea permeated so com- 
pletely the thought of the man as to shape the methods of 
teaching. 

The processes of reading and writing may be reduced to a 
series of associations repeated so frequently as to become 
marginated and relegated to the lower centers, through which 
they are performed as habits of technique. With Quintilian, 
and later, during the period of the Schoolmen and the types of 
education dominated by the narrow humanism, we find that 
reading and writing were taught purely along the lines of the 
mastery of a technique. In reading, the letters and shapes and 
their sounds were first taught. Then these were combined into 
syllables, syllables into words, words into phrases, and, finally, 
sentences were formed and read. Constant repetition led to 
the formation of habits. 

The content value of the words and phrases was a matter of 
no consequence since the end that was sought was the ability 
to form instantaneous associations between the written or 



READING 3 

printed symbol and the articulated correlative. So in writing, 
the letters were first learned individually by mechanical process, 
such as the tracing of Quintilian, and when the pupil became 
familiar with their form, the same synthetic process was gone 
through which characterized the manner of learning to read. 

Nor are we to think that this ruKng principle of method 
ceased to control when the period of the Schoolmen and of the 
Humanists came to an end. Wherever, in any system of educa- 
tion, the mere ability to read is considered the desirable end, a 
synthetic, formal method of teaching is a logical result. The 
Ward method, at one time so popular in New York schools, the 
a-h-ah method of the primers of twenty and thirty years ago, 
the Word method, the "Look and Say" method, in fact, any 
method which starts with words chosen solely because of their 
value as furnishing phonic elements that can be used in forming 
compounds, is but a relic of the educational ideal which sought 
to attain power in the technique of reading. 

With the Renascence came a different conception of the 
meaning of a liberal education. Books came to be looked upon, 
not as examples of formal excellence, but, rather, as the reposi- 
tory of the pictures of life, of discussions of men and events, 
valued for their influence upon life and character. Although 
the impetus to this newer idea of the value of books came from 
the Renascence of the 14th and 15th centuries, it did not exert 
its full force until several centuries later. In fact, Montaigne 
and Milton were looked upon as innovators when they merely 
revived the Renascence ideal. This broader conception of the 
value of books was beginning to spread through the 17th and 
i8th centuries, but it was only in the 19th century, when a new 
aim was set up for the entire educational process, that the idea 
came to affect methods of teaching. 

The Herbartian aim of character with its accompanying 
doctrine of concentration, placing history and literature at the 
center of the course of study, is probably the direct cause of the 



4 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

new methods followed in the teaching of reading. By itself, it 
must be acknowledged, the Herbartian aim is not enough; but 
when it was joined to the better insight into child psychology 
afforded by the teaching of Froebel, it gave rise to sane, rational, 
psychological method. Education is no longer to be measured 
by ability to read or to write. Books are no longer the whet- 
stones on which to sharpen one's instruments of technique. 
We now feel that the educated man is he who understands the 
life around him, reacts upon it in a live way, thus securing his 
own highest development through the fullest cooperation with 
his fellow-men. And books are of value because they give us 
the record of earlier attempts made by men to secure this de- 
velopment, and because they widen our experiences vicariously. 
Moreover, a better knowledge of the psychology of the child 
has brought us to realize that interest is the key which opens the 
floodgates of activity, and gives a maximum return for energy 
expended. Not the ability to read and write, but the power to 
get from the content of books an experience which will enable 
man effectively to meet the conditions of his environment, is 
now considered the end of intellectual education. In our 
methods of teaching we are seeking to crystalHze this broader 
idea. The first task in teaching is to become assured of the 
interest of the child. The first avenue of approach is through 
an interesting content. The goal toward which all our efforts 
are directed is the power to render automatic or to reduce to" the 
margin of consciousness all the adjustments and coordinations 
implied in the acts of reading and writing, so that the higher 
consciousness may be left free to bring itself into completer and 
fuller relations with the life that is hidden in the printed page. 

Summary. — To rationalize our methods, we must lay down 
certain general principles. Methods without such principles consti- 
tute not a method but merely a collection of devices. In the teach- 
ing of EngHsh, we must shape our procedure in conformity with 
existing conditions, (i) In our large cities, English is to-day a foreign 



READING 5 

tongue. (2) Reading is no longer valued, (a) as the power to call 
ofif words or (b) as the abihty to explain isolated meanings, but rather 
(c) as the broadening of experience by means of the thought com- 
municated through the printed page. This change has come from 
the newer conception of a hberal education. Our knowledge of the 
processes of learning, moreover, shows us (i) how we can make an 
interesting content afford a motive for acquiring mastery over the 
form; (2) how we can reduce technique in reading to the plane of 
habit; and (3) how we can free the higher consciousness so that 
the reading self may become identified with the self that is expressed 
through the printed page. 



CHAPTER II 
PRIMARY READING 

The limited experience of the children is the most discouraging 
condition confronting the teacher of primary reading. Here 
and there, with an exceptional teacher, or where the physical 
conditions are favorable, it is possible to supply an experience 
which later can be utilized as the content in the first steps of 
reading; but it is unsafe to base a method completely on the 
personaUty of the teacher or the accident of a favorable physical 
environment. Any method, though it be never so perfect, is 
but the carefully adjusted machinery, the motive power for 
which is the gifted teacher. Many methods are rightly con- 
demned as impracticable because, in order to assure success, 
they require unusual ability on the part of the teacher. The 
first problem, therefore, must be to give to the children an 
interesting content which may be used as the motive for the 
mastery of form. 

If we are to avoid waste, it is necessary at this point to refer 
to some fundamental laws of mental action. It is a characteris- 
tic of our educational movements that most changes take the 
form of an extreme reaction from that which has gone before. 
The intense and narrow formaUsm which was characteristic of 
earlier methods in reading, has given way to an emphasis upon 
content which in many cases has neglected entirely the necessity 
of a large amount of formal drill. It has been held that if we 
will but present a subject matter of deep and abiding interest 
to the children, it will make formal drill unnecessary. Probably 
the most consistent exposition of this theory is the so-called 



PRIMARY READING 7 

"Newark" method, or as we may call it, "the method of 
cumulative repetition." 

No habit can be economically formed unless its component 
parts have at some time been focalized in consciousness; and, 
furthermore, no habit can be rendered truly automatic unless 
there has been a large amount of repetition, and, with this, 
drill. If we are to teach reading, and if we are to make the 
power to read an automatic coordination and adjustment, we 
must, at some time or other, make the formal side of reading 
occupy the focus of consciousness, and we must give due atten- 
tion to pure drill and mere repetition. But our method must 
differ from the senseless drill of earlier generations in one im- 
portant particular. The motive must come from a desire within 
the child aroused by a strong interest in some content which he 
judges, more or less consciously, to be of value to him in his 
attempt at self-realization and self-expression. If the ordinary 
environment of the child were the world of Nature, if classes 
were held in the fields so that the children could gain approxi- 
mately the same kind of experiences, the desire to give expression 
to these experiences could be made the starting point of a vital 
method. Unfortunately, these ideal surroundings cannot be 
reaHzed in the classroom. True, the conditions for them may 
be created by a live teacher — a small brood of chickens may be 
kept in the classroom, observed by the children for a week or 
more; a pet canary or a tame rabbit may be fed and tended 
by the children; beans or peas may be planted in the window 
boxes; — and on the basis of these experiences children may be 
led into conversation which will form the ground work for the 
first work in reading. Such a method has been followed with 
success by teachers in many schools. 

But while such experiences may be furnished to the children, 
there is still an element of doubt as to whether we are interesting 
all. And, moreover, a practical difi&culty arises in that the 
words which may be natural as the expression of the life the 



8 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

children are observing are not the words most desirable as 
furnishing the elements from which the study of phonics is to 
proceed. Here, as in every other subject of the course of study, 
our difficulty arises in the difference between the logical and 
the psychological factors entering into our teaching. From the 
psychological point of view, we should aim to use only such 
words and sentences and ideas as grow out of the ordinary, 
interesting experiences of the child. From the logical point of 
view, we should be careful that those elements upon which the 
attention is first concentrated should be simple, and should 
contain within themselves parts of greatest value for the later 
orderly and systematic development of the subject. 

It cannot be claimed that the stories which form the basis of 
the cumulative-repetition method are such as are naturally 
expressive of the experiences of children. As a matter of fact, 
no story presented in a completed form can ever be totally 
expressive of such experiences. English work, to represent the 
daily life of the pupils, should be based upon the objects they 
see, the things they do, and the little adventures they meet with 
when they are together as a class. 

It was, probably, a realization of the difficulty of affording a 
varied experience to the children under the limitations of urban 
conditions, that led the originator of the "Newark" method 
to substitute, for the concrete happenings of life and a content 
based upon them, rather the common child interests, and stories 
expressive of them. Possibly because there is a pleasure afforded 
by the recognition of the familiar, children seem to yearn for a 
retelling of old stories. That which is entirely new requires 
greater expenditure of nerve energy, and is, therefore, accom- 
panied with a feeling of strained effort; while to listen to stories 
already familiar in a general way is easy and calls forth sponta- 
neous attention. This is pleasurable since the self-activity is 
directed entirely toward the object which occupies the focus of 
consciousness. 



PRIMARY READING 9 

Moreover, an instinctive liking for regular rhythm is charac- 
teristic of the child-mind. The crooning which lulls a child to 
sleep soon becomes a regularly measured cadence. The child's 
street cries are repeated in a regular rhythmic accent. It is 
even probable that the first steps in the use of number geneti- 
cally were determined by the rhymthic sense. 

These two characteristics of the child-mind may, for our 
present purposes, be considered practically universal — that is, 
the tendency to reduce all repeated expressions to a rhythmic 
cadence, and, secondly, the feeling of pleasure derived from 
listening to the repetition of famiUar stories. It is upon these 
two common tendencies of child-nature that the method of 
cumulative repetition is based. 

Of course, it would be an altogether ideal condition if it were 
possible to combine with these a content closely related to the 
experiences of children. Such a combination is not impossible, 
but it would call for too great power of original creation on 
the part of the teacher. The manuals for teachers and the 
primers published in connection with these methods, give a 
complete exposition of all the steps that are to be taken. It 
may be well, however, to sound a note of warning. If the story, 
e.g., "The Little Red Hen," is presented without adequate 
preparation, the work may become just as formal as the most 
objectionable of the S3mthetic methods. The teacher should 
first make every possible effort to awaken the keen interest of 
the children. Pictures should be shown, and stories of the 
animals, independent of the stories to be used in the English 
work, should be told. Again it must be remembered that 
while it is necessary for the purposes of the method to have 
the children famiHar with the exact words of the story, mem- 
orizing should not be made a set exercise. Because of the 
interest of the children in the repetition of a story with 
which they are already famiHar, they may feel encouraged 
to tell and retell the story. In this way, the exact language 



lo THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

becomes fixed as a by-product of their interest in the telling of 
the story itself. 

One of the most valuable features of the method is the demand 
it creates for group work. The division of a class into sections, 
and the practical disregard of two sections while instruction is 
carried on with the third, makes it necessary for the teacher to 
provide exercises which will be educative, and yet not too 
taxing, which will call for accurate work and yet will not require 
direct and continual supervision. To take a class immediately 
upon entering a school, to carry on this story work, and then to 
throw two-thirds of the class upon its resources, invariably leads 
to disorder, dissipated attention, or wasted energy on the part 
of the teacher. It will be foimd of great value to spend the 
first two or even three weeks of the term on exercises later to be 
used by the children in their unsupervised seat work. These will 
include matching of colors, splint work in number, arrangement 
of squares, simple freecutting, interlacing, etc. When the class 
has become reasonably proficient, the teacher will find that 
while she is devoting her attention directly to one group, she 
will be able to leave the other two groups to themselves, assured 
that they will know what to do, and that there will be a minimum 
of waste. 

In the presentation of the sight words drawn from the text 
of the story, every device which will secure concentration upon 
the form, and which will tend to give ready recall and rapid 
association between the recognition of the visual S3anbol and 
the right utterance and articulation of the word, should be 
employed. It is not our purpose to go into this method in 
detail. A full exposition may be foimd in the manuals and 
primers of the various systems. 

The most important points are the presentation of the story 
as a unit, the analysis of the story into its parts, and the sjoi- 
thesis of these parts by the children. Accordingly, when the 
teacher has exhausted the stories which contain the element of 



PRIMARY READING ii 

cumulative repetition and rhythmic sense-appeal, it is still 
necessary to select complete stories. These must be short, 
interesting, adapted to the powers of the children, and capable 
of division into unit incidents or episodes. The method to be 
followed in the first presentation of these stories will vary. 
Frequently, it is good to take, in a lower grade, as a story told 
by the teacher and retold by the children, one that in a later 
grade will be presented to the children in printed form for their 
reading. Their familiarity with the idea of the story will tend 
to give them the interest in it, and, furthermore, will help to 
keep the story a unit though the reading of it may be scattered 
over a number of lessons. Again, the story may be presented 
orally in the two or three lessons preceding that in which it is 
taken up in the class. In the higher grades, it may be found 
possible to have it read by the children at home, and then to 
have discussion in the classroom, clearing up difl&culties. If the 
choice has been good, this presentation will insure the interest 
that is necessary for the fullest exercise of the self-activity 
of the pupils. 

The children must give expression to the ideas which have 
been aroused by the first presentation of the story, and must, 
by their method of reading, show their appreciation of the 
thought. Accordingly, it is indispensable that the teacher, 
after having presented the words, taught their pronunciation, 
and explained or developed their meaning, return to the content 
of the story so that the children have their attention directed 
to that which should be the fountainhead of all their activity 
— an interest in the content of the story itself. How this 
process works out in the reading lesson of the higher grades will 
be shown later. 

Summary. — An interesting content must be secured to supply 
motive for the mastery of form, but the habits involved in the read- 
ing process must be specifically focused upon. We cannot get va- 
ried personal experiences in the ordinary environment of the child. 



12 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

Therefore, we use stories relying upon two interests: (i) Interest 
in the famiUar. The stories are presented orally before they are 
taken up in the book. (2) The love of rhythmic cadence. Stories 
involving cmnulative repetition have been found most suitable. 

The sequence of the episodes of the stories must be made familiar 
to the child. The parts are taken up singly and are read practically 
from memory. Words are isolated, recombined into new settings, 
and later made the basis for phonetic study. 



CHAPTER III 
PRIMARY READING — PHONICS 

Up to the present point, we have been treating the subject 
as if the children were continually to be under direction in the 
process of reading, and as if the only aim of reading were to 
arrive at an appreciation of the content of stories, themselves 
of vital interest to the children. After all, however, an equally 
important aim of the teaching of reading is to make the children 
independent in their attack upon the difficulties of the printed 
page, and eflScient in extracting the pith of the thought from 
the contents of a book. And it is to this training toward inde- 
pendence in reading that we must now direct our attention. 

It is unnecessary to enter into any discussion of the difficulties 
presented in English reading. The number of symbols which 
go to form the words in the language is much less than the total 
number of sounds found in our words. Moreover, certain 
combinations of letters instead of having a fixed pronimciation, 
correspond to as many as four and even five different sounds. 
The form of a word, therefore, is not the key to the pronuncia- 
tion. If it were, it would be an extremely easy matter to make 
the child entirely independent in his reading. Still, while there 
are all these difficulties, they serve only to make more serious 
the problem of the teacher, for, in any event, the result must be 
the same. The children must be given power to approach a 
new text and to read it with confidence, fluency, and correctness. 
This power cannot be developed from the inner consciousness 
of the child. It is an automatic reaction which will follow 
upon much practice initiated by imitation. 

In many methods, it seems to be felt that independence stands 
unalterably opposed to assistance from the teacher, and that 



14 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

every device may legitimately be resorted to if only the direct 
setting of a model for pronunciation, by the teacher, be avoided. 
To this end, devices of many sorts have been adopted. Elabo- 
rate systems of diacritical marks are used and learned by the 
pupils so that new words need only be presented in this arbitrary 
system of markings to enable the children to pronoimce the 
words. As a matter of fact, however, this is not independence 
in reading. In the beginning, the teacher was compelled to 
present these marks, explain their meaning, give the sound of 
the vowel or the consonant indicated by the mark in question, 
have the children imitate this sound and associate it with the 
particular mark taught, and then make this association auto- 
matic by almost endless drill. When, finally, the pupil has 
mastered the system of marking, he applies this automatic 
association in the pronunciation of new words. In reality, he 
is not independent, for he is relying at every turn upon an 
artificial system of symbols, the interpretation of which was 
made clear to him only after much drill. Even when the pupil 
is reading a word diacritically marked, the teacher, though 
actually silent, is really dictating the pronunciation of that word 
to him, and giving him a direct model for imitation. For the 
diacritical marks are just as much a dictation to the child, on 
the basis of his past experience with their interpretation and 
meaning, as would be the utterance of the word by the teacher. 
If our books were so printed as to retain the diacritical marks, 
if every word appeared with the symbols necessary to indicate 
its right sound, then the use of such symbols might be defensible; 
but the confessed purpose even of the ardent supporters of this 
method is to do away with the marking as soon as may be 
practicable. May it not, therefore, rightly be asked, "If the 
purpose is to dispense with the marks eventually, why should 
they be taught at all, especially if the same results can be 
achieved without the use of markings? " 
What substitute have we then to offer for the teaching of 



PRIMARY READING — PHONICS 15 

diacritical marks? In the so-called " content- to-form " methods, 
a mode of procedure like the following is adopted. From the 
unit of the story and the smaller unit of an independent episode 
or incident, the teacher selects a number of sight words. These 
are associated with the object they represent, and with their 
significance in the story already known to the children. The 
children see the symbol, hear the sound, know the object, and 
feel its place in the story. The fixing of the word and the render- 
ing automatic of its recognition by the child, call for the greatest 
ingenuity on the part of the teacher. In general, we may say 
that the principle of multiple-sense teaching will be found most 
helpful, and that with greater emphasis on motor and articula- 
tory expression, the desired end will more readily be achieved. 
A large picture of a horse may be mounted on a chart under 
which might be written these sentences: 

See my horse. 
It is a large horse. 
My horse has four feet. 

The children could then be given envelopes containing cut-out 
words. They spread the cards on the desk and rearrange the 
cards so as to reproduce the three sentences on the chart. Other 
exercises of a similar sort could be used. 

When fifty or more words are completely known at sight, 
these methods call for the work in phonics which is the first 
step toward making the children independent. All phonic 
elements are studied analytically from sight words previously 
learned. In the selection of the first word, the teacher is asked 
to bear in mind that the sounds first taught are to be "those 
most easily formed, those most readily prolonged, and, finally, 
those most useful in the formation of new words." At this 
point, one of two methods is usually followed. The teacher may 
take up a single word and analyze its sounds; then, in another 
period, take up another word, similarly analyzing, and, finally, 



1 6 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

proceed to a combination, where possible, of the parts learned 
from the two words. This method is explained in the following 
excerpt from "OutHnes of Phonic Lessons" by Miss McClosky: 

"The teacher writes the word 'man' on the blackboard and 
has the children name it. She asks the class to Hsten sharply 
while she says the word slowly. The teacher pronounces the 
word slowly and more slowly until she has separated the word 
into m-an. The pupils are then asked if they can say it as the 
teacher did. Volunteers are allowed to try, and when several have 
succeeded, the teacher asks who can give the first part, m, alone; 
the second part, an. The next step is to associate the sounds 
they have heard and made with the letters which represent these 
sounds. The teacher takes a piece of stiff paper or cardboard 
and covers an, telling the pupils that she is showing the part 
that tells them to make the first sound m. Then she covers the 
letter m and the children make the second sound, an. Beginning 
with the best in the group, each child then sounds m-an and 
pronounces the word. If this is correctly done on the first 
trial, the pupil returns to his seat. If a mistake is made, the 
pupil waits to try again after the others have succeeded. It is 
important that each pupil should sound the word correctly. 
No concert work should be allowed. The words are not divided 
on the blackboard. The temporary divisions are made by 
covering part of the word to concentrate attention upon the 
other part." 

In a similar way a new word, like rat for example, is taken up, 
and from these two, ran, mat, at, and am may be taught. Then 
the number of phonic words is increased as the children show 
more and more facility in analyzing and combining. Hand in 
hand with this goes instruction in writing, the children merely 
copying the forms of the entire words as they recall them; and 
so, in one or two weeks, after this work has been begun, the 
children are able to write words which they form themselves. 

It is to be noted that in this method the word as a written or 



PRIMARY READING — PHONICS 17 

printed symbol is always presented to the children as a unit, 
that the analysis is purely mental, and that where the elements 
are isolated, they appear not as parts of words but on separate 
phonic charts. In the first part of the process, the complete 
word is the first utterance. In the second, the complete word is 
the last utterance. That is, in forming the new word ran, the 
children say r-an, ran. By using the single sounds, m, r, t, f, w, 
h, b, p, I, s, k, and the group sounds, an, at, ail, ire, ill, orn, at, ig, 
ay, oon, ing — in other words, by using twenty-two phonic 
elements, this method gives to the children the power to read 
151 phonic words. 
A second method may be described as follows: 
A series of words like man, ran, can, fan, pan, may be sounded 
by the teacher and written on the board in a single column. 
The teacher pronounces the words over and over again, pointing 
to each word as she pronounces it. She then calls upon the 
children to tell what sound they notice is the same in all the 
words. All guessing is discouraged, and if the children do not 
succeed at first, the teacher goes over the list again and again, 
each time accenting the group-sound, an, as separate from its 
initial consonant. 

When a child has identified and recognized the common 
sound, the teacher asks the children to watch as she writes the 
words once more on the board. She then reproduces the list of 
words, this time, however, writing the word very large and mak- 
ing a little wider space between the initial consonant and the 
final group-sound, without, however, disturbing the integrity 
of the word. She calls upon a bright child to find some part 
of the word which is seen to be common to all the words. A 
circle is placed around the group-sound, usually with colored 
chalk. The teacher asks once more for the sound that is com- 
mon to the words, and tells the children that the part of the 
word enclosed in the circle is represented by the sound which 
they have recognized as being common to all the words. 



i8 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

In a similar way, at a succeeding lesson, the sound at may be 
isolated, identified, recognized, and associated with its symbol. 
A return is then made to the word man, and by the method of 
separation already described, the sound m is isolated. From 
this point on, the combination proceeds as it does in all purely 
phonic methods. The essential point of difference is that the 
initial sound is presented not as the result of an articulatory 
separation by the teacher, but as the result of a process of 
comparison and discrimination on part of the children. 

An analysis of the principles followed by the authors of a 
typical phonic system of reading may help to a better under- 
standing of how interest in content may be maintained while a 
scientific development of words on the basis of phonic elements 
is carried on in the first year. The following quotations from 
the preface ^ will make clear the theory. 

"The purpose of the book is not to gain memorized reading, 
but to acquire independence through power in phonics." 

"Diacritical marks are avoided when possible. They tend to 
confuse the child, and are not seen in the books which he desires 
to read." 

"There should be a many-sided presentation and a many- 
sided development. The work should include, therefore, much 
more than phonics. Phonics lead to word-getting; words lead 
to thoughts; thoughts to character; and character to service- 
giving." 

"The reading should be accompanied by plays and games and 
other pleasurable devices. Joy in action is the ke)niote of the 
children's rhythmical progress." 

"On entering school, the child brings with him a stock of 
nature facts and thoughts. The reading in this book is based 
on Finger Plays which embody some of these thoughts; and 
these Finger Plays are favorites in many kindergartens. This 
book has, therefore, for its foundation, rhymes which are easily 
1 Finger-Play Reader. D. C. Heath & Co. 



PRIMARY READING — PHONICS 19 

learned if not already known; and rhymes of which there is but 
one version." 

"As a Nature Reader, its purpose is not to give information, 
but to teach the child to express that which he already knows. 
The purpose of nature-work is, above all, to lead the child into 
the loving-relations which he should hold with the outside world. 
The material used is near at hand, for a flower, a sparrow, or a 
dog is closer to a child than the table at which he sits." 

The selection of the phonic elements in a carefully graded 
series is the first concern of the makers of this book. They 
next select words which use these elements. The introduction, 
however, is by means of pictures or the objects themselves, and 
aims to supply the children with a content the expression of 
which will be found in the text of the first book. For instance, 
the first lesson on the bee, together with the pictures with which 
the book is plentifully supplied, will lead to the expression of the 
following experiences indicated in the Teacher's Edition. 

"i. The Bee's Work: Collecting the honey; collecting the pollen 
which he packs into the pocket shown on the hind leg; kneading the 
bee-bread for the food of the babies; the home-biulding made of the 
wax which exudes from the bee's body; the nursing of the children; 
and the service to the queen. , 

2. The Bee's Character: The bee is a queen tvho must preserve 
her colony, or an industrious worker, or a drone. 

3. The Bee's Appearance: Four wings, six legs, big eyes, and hairy 
body. 

4. Man's Industry in connection with the bee." 

The motor-activity of the children is employed by securing 
correlation between the free, swinging movements in writing, 
and with various forms of Finger Play exercises. 

The method of developing the first sound is indicated in these 
directions to the teachers. 

"Let the children separate the sight word just gained into its pho- 
nograms: bee, b ee. Now write on the blackboard for phonic practice: 



20 



THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 



b 


ee 


s 




b ee 


b ee 


b ee s 


bee 


b ee hive 


b ee hive 




bees 


b ees 


bee s 




beehive 



Let the class sound these words together. Help them if neces- 
sary. Do not let the class say the words. After each sounding, 
let volunteers tell the word. 

Always supplement written blend by oral blend. For instance, 
for b we should give famihar words by Hp-motion, letting the chil- 
dren guess them; as, b oy, b ite, b ack, b oot, b ill, etc. 

For the phonogram ee : s ee, tr ee, f r ee, kn ee, etc. 

For the phonogram 5 ; boy s, girl s, pin s, needle s, eye s. 

For purpose of quick review, square tables and linear tables 
of the phonic work are prepared. 

Square Tables 



a 


e 


1 


o 


u 


ab 


eb 


ib 


ob 


ub 


ac 


ec 


ic 


oc 


uc 


ad 


ed 


id 


od 


ud 


af 


ef 


if 


of 


uf 


ag 


eg 


ig 


og 


ug 


ack 


eck 


ick 


ock 


uck 


al 


el 


n 


ol 


ul 


am 


em 


im 


om 


um 


an 


en 


in 


on 


im 


ap 


ep 


ip 


op 


up 


as 


es 


is 


OS 


us 


at 


et 


it 


ot 


ut 


av 


ev 


iv 


ov 


uv 


a 


g 


i 


6 


u 


an 


en 


in 


on 


un 



a 


e 


1 


o 


u 


abe 


ebe 


ibe 


obe 


ube 


ace 


ece 


ice 


oce 


uce 


ade 


ede 


ide 


ode 


ude 


afe 


efe 


ife 


ofe 


ufe 


age 


ege 


ige 


oge 


uge 


ake 


eke 


ike 


oke 


uke 


ale 


ele 


ile 


ole 


ule 


ame 


eme 


ime 


ome 


imie 


ane 


ene 


ine 


one 


une 


ape 


epe 


ipe 


ope 


upe 


ase 


ese 


ise 


ose 


use 


ate 


ete 


ite 


ote 


ute 


ave 


eve 


ive 


ove 


uve 


are 


ere 


ire 


ore 


ure 



ang eng mg ong ung 
ank enk ink onk unk 



PRIMARY READING — PHONICS 



21 



br 
cr 
dr 
fr 
gr 
pr 
tr 



aU 



ber 
ker 
der 
fer 
ger 
per 
ter 
mer 
ner 
ser 
ver 
ler 
her 
aw 



sp 

St 

sc 

spr 

str 

scr 

sm 

sn 



bl 

cl 

dl 

fl 

gl 

pl 

si 
tl 



Linear Tables 

ble 
cle 
die 
fle 
gle 
pie 
tie 
sle 
tie 



ou ow 




oi oy 




ai ay 


ey 


ea ee 


ie 


ew 00 




ew u 




er ir 


ur 


ow o 




ook ood ould 



wh 
th 
ch 
sh 



ight old other any ind ful or ar y 



In a note, the authors say: 

" It is not expected that the children will know the above phono- 
grams perfectly by the end of the term, but they will have a very 
good general and unconfused idea of them, and will be able to apply 
them, if the directions have been followed, page by page." 

Any system of the class represented by this reader is based 
upon a logical development of the phonic elements in the lan- 
guage. An attempt is made to secure a content on a level with 
the children's experiences. The necessary drill is secured 
through the repetition of words learned, and there results a 
steady growth in the power of the children to attack the printed 
page. 

Whatever method is followed, in order that there shall be 
growth in power, every phonic element should be applied to the 
formation of new words immediately after it has been learned. 
Indiscriminate concert work should be avoided. In the teaching 
of reading it should be borne in mind that the aim is not a general 
average of class excellence but a power inherent in every indi- 



22 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

vidual to visualize the symbol and give it the right value. Many 
cases of defective enunciation and articulation have grown up 
merely because they have become fixed through constant 
repetition in concert work, without instant correction by the 
teacher. 

In the s)nithetic part of the phonic work, actual words only 
should be formed, and wherever possible, each word should be 
made concrete by a picture, a dramatic representation, or some 
other device. In presenting phonic elements, the child should 
never be helped by having the word completely pronounced for 
him. The aim is to develop independence. The sooner he is 
made to rely upon his own power of combination, the more 
readily will he acquire self-reliance in attacking diflSculties. 

The teacher should never permit the voices of the children to 
assume a shrill or strained tone. In many primary classes the 
phonic words are given in a shouting, screaming voice which 
may injure the vocal cords, and which, undoubtedly, has much 
to do with the artificial tone children adopt in their reading 
lessons. As soon as possible the teacher should note individual 
peculiarities of utterance and give special work to overcome 
defects. 

Too frequently when teachers discover a child unable to 
enunciate some particular sound correctly, time is wasted by 
giving him over and over again a model for imitation'. Errors 
in enunciation are due to one or more of three causes, i. There 
may be some defect of hearing which prevents the child from 
getting the right sound of the word. 2. The child may not be 
concentrating siiflEiciently upon the exercise, and so may not 
succeed in getting a clear idea of the sound. 3. There may be 
some malformation or defect in the parts of the mouth con- 
cerned with the enunciation. It will readily be seen that the 
mere repetition of the sound by the teacher does not tend to 
overcome the difficulty created by any one of these three causes. 
If there is a defect in hearing, the child is a fit subject for the 



PRIMARY READING — PHONICS 23 

physician's care. If there is a lack of proper concentration, it 
is because the child does not find sufficient interest in the work; 
and the cure Hes not in repetition but in better motivation. 
If the fault is with the organs of utterance, the child should be 
taught the right placing of the parts of the mouth, rather than 
the mere aural impression of the word. If, by direct observa- 
tion, children can be led properly to dispose of the tongue, etc., 
in the utterance of a particular sound, they will correct errors 
in less time and with less energy than if they were to try to 
imitate a sound. A mirror for the pupil is better than a model 
by the teacher. 

It will be found, moreover, that deep breathing exercises will 
frequently cure cases of stammering or stuttering, and that 
insistence on correct physical posture will give good results in 
phonics. Frequently, the children will tend to develop a habit 
of silent Hp movement. Rapid recognition is the desired end, 
and as soon as possible the silent lip movement should be 
entirely stopped. 

A number of devices may be of help in connection with various 
parts of this work. In order to develop speed in recognition 
and in utterance of phonic words, this exercise may be used : 

A ladder may be drawn, between the rungs of which are written 
a number of syllables or words containing the vowel upon which 
the drill is to be had. The children then run up and down the 
ladder pronouncing the syllables in their turn. A variation of 
this is to have the syllables written under one another, and to 
make such a drawing as to make the syllables appear on the 
steps of a ffight of stairs. 

It is important that the children shall be made independent 
as early as possible. The following exercise is suggested: 

The teacher writes a phonogram, as ing, and asks the children 
to add some letter or letters to it so as to form a word. ' ' Suppose 
we write the letter 5 before ing, what word would we form?" 
In making the blend, the children should pronounce the added 



24 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

letter first, then the phonogram. They should make the com- 
bination or the blend with no assistance from the teacher. As 
many words as possible should be formed, the teacher rejecting 
those combinations which do not form real words. In this 
device it will be found valuable to associate all those phono- 
grams which have the same vowel element. For example, when 
the entire list of ing words has been written, a list of the ig family, 
and then that of the ick, and that of the ill should be formed. 

In some of the compoimd phonograms (compound sounds 
taught as a unit) it will be necessary to give devices in order 
to insure correct pronunciation. For example, the wh sound 
originally appeared in words in the English language in the form 
hw. The sound may be taught to children by having them place 
the lips in position for the w and emmciating h at the same time; , 
that is to say, pronouncing first the h and then the w. It will 
also be necessary to show the effect of the adding of e in 
changing the pronunciation of word phonograms; thus slid 
becomes slide; not becomes note; cut, cute; at, ate; bit, bite; 
mat, mate ; etc. There should be careful drill on this phase of 
the work. 

An interesting variation in the work will be foimd if the 
teacher occasionally in telling a story will here and there give 
the elements or the sounds of a word instead of the word itself. 
The child guesses what the word is either from the context or 
from the motion of the teacher's lips. 

In the Johnny story of Mrs. Pollard, an ingenious attempt has 
been made to associate the single sound with concrete objects. 
For example, 5 is called the snake sound; /, the watch sound; 
w, the lip or wind sound; th aspirate, the hissing goose sound; 
th sub-vocal, the sound of the mill wheel; ow and ou, the hurt 
or the crying sound. 

The sound is introduced through the medium of a story. 
The child is told about Fannie visiting Frank in the country. 
Because Frank was a good boy, his father had given him many 



PRIMARY READING — PHONICS 25 

pets. Frank was very proud of these, and so he took Fannie to 
see the chickens, the ducks, etc., and at last brought her to the 
barn where the old mother-cat made a home for her little kittens. 
The mother did not want company that morning and when 
Fannie took one of the little kittens in her arms, the old cat 
became very cross, ciurved her back, opened her mouth and 
said, /-/-/. The children will enjoy, first, listening to the story 
and then reproducing it, and the sound will be impressed upon 
their minds. The story is continued on succeeding days. For 
instance, the cow was standing near the fence. When Frank 
stroked her head, she showed how she liked it by saying, m-m-m. 
In the same way the rest of the story may be told. In addition 
to the equivalent sounds given above, we may add the following: 

The angry dog says, r-r-r. When the hot horse-shoe fell into 
the pail of water it said, s-s-s. After the race, Fannie was out 
of breath and said, h-h-h. When the saw cut the log, it said, 
n-n-n. The lazy engine said, p-p-p. When the baby tried to 
talk, it said h-h-h. The broken bell said, l-l-l. The angry bee 
said, z-z-z. When the cherry pit stuck in Frank's throat, he 
said, k-k-k. When the baby was asleep, mother said, sh-sh-sh. 
When the locomotive had a heavy load to pull, it said, ch-ch-ch. 

After the sounds are taught and words are formed with them, 
the children may be encouraged to form as many words as they 
can think of which rhyme with the type words given by the 
teacher. This exercise may be given increased value by hav- 
ing children in somewhat higher grades give sentences with the 
rhyming word that they have just discovered. 

'Let us make some lines about colors. You may put in the 
last word." 

When the green grass in the field is cut down, 
Then it is hay, and its color is . 

Gold is yellow, and silver is . 

What is the color of the stars at night? 



26 



THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 



When to your father a letter you write, 
The ink is black and the paper . 

Pinks are growing in the garden bed. 

Do you think you can tell their color from ? 

Now see if you can tell what letters are left out in these lines: 



class 

gr 

gl 

P 

town 

d 

or 

br 



old 
c — 

g — 
h— 

faU 
w — 
b— 

St— 



blows 

gr 

cr ■ 

fl 

sing 
spr — 
br 

str 



pink 
th— 
dr— 
1 

wife 
str— 

1 

kn— 



school 
sp 

St 



play 

c 

s 

de- 



name 
f 

g 

1 



sheen 

s 

k 

spl — 



slate 

f 

h 

sk — 
d 



place 

1 

f 

gr 



night 

f 

fr 

br 



kind 

m 

beh- 

f 

gr — 



In order to have the children discriminate properly between 
words of similar spelling but different pronunciation, have an 
exercise like the following: 

Ask the children to pronounce the words in "ough" like the ital- 
icized word in the same sentence or group of sentences. 

1. My doughty cow was struck fast in a slough near the plough. 

2. One or two cups of water may cure your hiccoughs. 



PRIMARY READING — PHONICS 27 

3. Say "as if" rather than "as though." Though is a shortened 
form of although and should be so used. Ejiead your dough Ughtly, 

4. The cat sprang of the trough with a loud cough. 

5. As he went through, he cried, "Shough, shough, do!" 

6. The horse waded from the dock into the lough till his houghs 
were weU under the water. 

When the class is ready for word building, these suggestions may 
be helpful: 

1. Lead the children to recognize the fact that the key- word is 
found in each new word. 

2. Give special attention to the initial letter in each case, and 
train the class to enunciate each soimd clearly and distinctly. 

3. Have each word spelled by sound and by letter only when it 
can be grasped as a whole or recognized by sight. 

4. Have each word used in a sample sentence. 

5. Weave the words built on any key- word into a story, and 
make a pause at each word of the key-word vocabulary. As each 
special word is woven into the story, have some chUd in readiness 
with the pointer to find the word for the class. If a mistake is made, 
allow some one to correct the first child and to take his place at the 
chart. Some devices in this word building are as follows: 

Distribute envelopes containing many hektographed phonograms. 
Match them by placing in a single row aU belonging to the same 
family. Give to each child a small clipping from a newspaper. As- 
sign words to be found such as, in, that, can. Have the children 
draw circles or rectangles aroimd each. 

It is of great help to have the children accustomed to phonetic 
analysis so that they may be led to concentrate attention upon 
the utterance of sounds. 

If there are stories which are familiar to the children and 
which furnish good material for phonetic analysis, they may be 
made to serve an excellent purpose ; but the literature must not 
be sacrificed for the purpose of the phonics. The teacher should 
first get the thought that the poem contains. The following will 



28 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

charm the children through its rhythm, and from it the children 
will get their first elements of harmony: 

"Hey-diddle-diddle, 

The cat and the fiddle, 
The cow jumped over the moon. 

The little dog laughed 

To see such craft. 
And the dish ran away with the spoon." 

Many of the Mother Goose melodies have admirable combina- 
tions for teaching phonetic analysis. For instance, there are 
the sounds of o and ck in, 

"Hickory, dickory, dock, 
The mouse ran up the clock. 
The clock struck one, 
And down he run, 
Hickory, dickory, dock." 

and those of ing and ong in, 

"Ding, dong! ding, dong! 

I'U sing you a song; 
'Tis about a Uttle bird; 

He sat upon a tree. 

And he sang to me. 
And I never spoke a word. 

"Ding, dong! ding, dong! 

I'U sing you a song; 
'Tis about a Uttle mouse; 

He looked very cunning. 

As I saw him running, 
About my father's house." 

In "Simple Simon" there are several recurring sounds as well 
as some good contrasts. "The house that Jack Built" may be 



PRIMARY READING — PHONICS 29 

used in different ways, while the children will always find pleas- 
ure in the combinations of sounds that are contained in "Henny 
Penny." 

Stimmary. — Children must be made independent readers, able 
to master, vmassisted, the difi&culties of the printed page. Diacrit- 
ical markings will not give this independence, for the symbols are 
merely a substitute for the direct help given by the teacher. This 
power can come only through a study of phonics. The approach 
may be made (i) analytically: by separating a word into its sounds 
and identifying the component sounds with their printed symbols; 
or (2) synthetically: by selecting sounds, associating them with their 
symbols, and combining them to form words. In the former the 
process is from thought to word, through analysis to s5anbols and so 
to recombination. In the latter, the process is from phonic elements 
and their symbols through synthesis to words, and so to thoughts. 
In the recombination or the formation of new words, devices must 
be employed to secure concentrated attention. \ 



CHAPTER IV 
OVERCOMING DEFECTS IN SPEECH 

Up to this point we have been discussing the teaching of 
phonics with reference to the power which we wish to give to the 
child, of attacking in an independent way difficulties which he 
encounters when he attempts to pronounce unfamiliar words. 
In the practical suggestions about to be given, we shall have 
another aim in view. Ruskin says: "A well-educated gentle- 
man may not know many languages; may not be able to speak 
any but his own; may have read very few books; but whatever 
language he knows, he knows precisely; whatever word he pro- 
nounces, he pronounces rightly." In addition to giving the 
power to read new words and the power to pronounce new words 
correctly, the exercises should aim to give distinct articulation 
and pure tone. 

It is a mistake to imagine that work in phonics should end 
with the first three years. Primarily, of course, the aim of this 
study is to lead the pupils to separate words into their com- 
ponent parts, to learn these phonic elements as imits, and then 
to combine these units in the formation of new words, using 
them, where possible, in pronouncing words never before met 
by the children. At the end of the third year, all sounds and 
elements should have been taught, and the children should be 
ready, with a minimum amoimt of guidance, successfully to 
attack any exercise suited to their stage of mental development. 
But beyond the third year the work in phonics may be used to 
concentrate the attention of the children upon the correct 
sounding of words. 



OVERCOMING DEFECTS IN SPEECH 31 

One of the rarest accomplishments is the ability to utter 
English words with their proper values. Even the person of 
more than ordinary education is slip-shod in his utterance, 
careless in his articulation, and incorrect in rendering the sound 
values of vowels. If a clean-cut utterance is to be considered 
the mark of an educated man, then it should be the aim of the 
school to direct attention consciously to the realization of this 
aim. Phonic exercises, therefore, particularly for the purpose of 
getting exact, yet not too mechanical, utterance, should be a 
part of the school course. 

This work may include three phases. In the first place, the 
usual trick-sentences may be taught and rapidly repeated by 
the children, so as to render more flexible the organs of utterance. 
In the second place, the same end should be realized by having 
the individual go through, daily, a series of exercises for the 
strengthening of the muscles which produce the sounds. And 
thirdly, there may be series of definite exercises formulated for 
the purpose of curing defects in articulation or enunciation. 

In the fifth year, and thereafter in each succeeding term, 
diacritical marks may be taught in connection with the use of 
the dictionary. From this time the child becomes an abso- 
lutely independent reader, for he now has at his command all 
the means available to the average person, of learning the 
pronunciation of new words. 

The quahties of good oral reading are: i. Correct pronimcia- 
tion — which means giving to the consonants and the vowels 
those values which are sanctioned by usage, together with the 
right placing of the accent. This will be foimd to depend, to a 
great extent, upon giving right vowel value. 2. Enunciation 
— which means giving correct value to the consonants. 3. 
Articulation, or the right joining of syllables to form words. 
4. Pitch. 5. Elements connected with the right expression of 
the content; namely, tone, modulation, pace, and inflection. 

Among the common and serious defects in school reading are: 



32 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

I. Defects in enunciation — due to defect in hearing or to a 
malformation of the vocal organs. 2. Lack of voice, which 
may be due to improper physical development or to improper 
tone production. 

In every case it should be the aim of the teacher to ascertain 
what are the causes of the defects, and to treat them directly. 
Sometimes the errors are due to a lack of discriminating atten- 
tion. Here devices must be employed to arouse the attention, 
and to direct it to the clearest possible, even exaggerated, 
enunciation of the sounds which the child confuses, until he 
perceives the points of difference. A game may be used. 
Two lines are formed and the players arranged in these lines. 
The leader whispers to the one at the foot of the line an un- 
familiar sentence. He, in turn, whispers it to the one above him; 
and this is kept up until the head of the line has been reached. 
The child at the head of each hne then announces the sentence 
as he hears it, and that line reproducing the sentence with the 
smallest number of errors, wins. 

Training in accurate listening, however, will not bring about 
all the results that the teacher desires to achieve. SUght in- 
accuracies confuse the speech materially. Some of these are: 

a. Failure to touch the gum strongly with the point of the 
tongue for the sound of t. 

b. Starting the sound of I before the muscles are in place. 

c. Closing the teeth when producing the sound of m. 

d. Failure completely to finish the diphthongal consonant 
j (dzh). 

e. Too Uttle tension in the tongue when y is the sound needed. 
Drills for muscular flexibihty will do much toward overcoming 

rigidity, and slow, heavy, or drawling articulation, the result 
being that the children will acquire power to speak clearly, 
smoothly, and rapidly. 

In addition to this formal work, there should be drill on sen- 
tences which the children study so that they may be able to 



OVERCOMING DEFECTS IN SPEECH 33 

repeat them very rapidly. Examples of these sentences are here 
given : 

Hail! heavenly harmony. 

Up the high hill he heaved a huge round stone. 
Heaven's first star aUke ye see. 
Let it wave proudly o'er the good and the brave. 
The supply lasts still. 

And gleaming and streaming and steaming and beaming. 
It is the first step that costs. 
The deed was done in broad day. 
None now is left to tell the mournful tale. 
Take care that you be not deceived, dear friends. 
Lie lightly on her, earth! her step was light on thee. 
Thou wast struck dumb with amazement. 

Can no one be found faithful enough to warn him of his danger? 
No one dared do it. 
A great deal of disturbance ensued. 
He gave him good advice which he did not take. 
A dark cloud spread over the heavens. 

Had he but heeded the counsel of his friend, he might have been 
saved. 

He came at last too late to be of any service. 
The magistrates stood on an elevated platform. 

The following exercises are taken from leading books on the 
correction of speech defects. They are suggestive. Additional 
exercises may be found in the many technical books on the sub- 
ject. Those here given are mainly selected from Bell's work. 

Exercises for the Tongue, Soft-Palate, Lips, 
AND Lower Jaw 

Tongue Exercises (before a looking-glass) 
Exercise I 

Open the mouth wide, but not too wide (this is meant for all exer- 
cises) ; let the tongue rest quietly, without any pressure, flat on the 



34 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

bottom of the oral cavity, the point touching but not pressing the 
front teeth; breathe Hghtly in and out through the mouth (four, six 
times), not allowing the tongue to move in the least. 

Exercise II 

Protrude the tongue as far as possible without any pressure and 
independent of the muscles of the larynx; keep it out for four 
seconds, then draw it back as far as possible. Keep it back four 
seconds without closing the mouth. Begin slowly (six times), grow- 
ing faster by degrees (ten, fifteen times in succession). Protrude 
the tongue during expiration, draw it back during a deep inspiration 
through the mouth, the nostrils held closed by thtunb and forefinger. 

This exercise is to be repeated frequently while he who practices 
should try to become conscious of the muscles by means of which 
this is accompUshed (for the knowledge of the muscles to be used 
at aU times is the chief reqmrement). He will find that in drawing 
back the tongue, its root will contract and thereby push down the 
larynx; while in protruding the tongue, its root will come forward 
and the larynx will be drawn up. With this exercise let him combine 
the raising of the soft-palate, for while (during the production of a 
tone), the tongue should not form an arch which protrudes into the 
oral cavity, the soft-palate should not be drawn too far downward, 
in order to fulfil the first condition of a full, clear tone, viz.: wide 
fauces and wide oral cavity. 

Exercise III 

Open the mouth wide, move the tip of the pointed tongue to the 
corners of the mouth, alternately to the right and left (six times), 
having the direct intention to strike the corners (for purposeless work 
is only a mechanical action and will not lead to success) ; then, grow- 
ing faster by degrees (ten, fifteen times in succession). Do not 
hold the breath during this exercise, but breathe quietly and regularly 
through the mouth. 

Exercise IV 

Open the mouth wide, touch with the tip of the sharply-pointed 
tongue the middle of the upper and of the lower lip alternately; 



OVERCOMING DEFECTS IN SPEECH 35 

begin slowly, with the direct intention of letting only the outermost tip, 
not the entire front part of the tongue, touch the middle of the lips 
(six times), then growing faster, (ten, fifteen times). 

Exercise V 

Open the mouth wide, place the tip of the pointed tongue in 
one corner of the mouth, proceed with sharply-pointed tongue in 
dotting fashion along the upper Hp to the other comer; then on the 
under Hp to the starting point; repeat the same movement back- 
ward to the starting point. 

Exercise VI 

Open the mouth wide, touch with the tip of the very sharply- 
pointed tongue the roots of the upper middle incisors, as if to make a 
dot there, and then, touching the palate in such dotting fashion with 
the tip of the tongue, proceed back as far as possible; then go for- 
ward again, always breathing through the mouth (inspiration while 
the tongue goes back, expiration while it goes forward, six times), 
both ways. 

Exercise VII 

Touch, in the same manner, the bottom of the oral cavity, back- 
ward and forward. 

Exercise VIII 

Open the mouth wide, touch with the tip of the sharply-pointed 
tongue the middle of the upper lip, then of the lower lip and, with- 
out pausing, the right and left corners of the mouth, (ten, twelve 
times), slowly at first, growing faster by degrees, alternating thus: 
upper middle, lower middle, right corner, left corner, upper middle, 
lower middle, left corner, right corner, always with the sharply- 
pointed tongue. 

Exercise IX 

Open the mouth wide, touch with the tip of the sharply-pointed 
tongue the middle of the right side of the upper lip, then that of the 
left side of the upper lip; first slowly (six times), then faster (six 
times), without any movement of the lower jaw. 



36 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

Exercise X 

Repeat the same exercise with the lower lip, without movement 
of the lower jaw. 

Exercise XI 

Combine these two exercises in the following manner: Begin at 
the upper right side, proceed to the lower left, thence to the upper 
left, and then to the lower right, so that this figure ><1 would be 
produced; at first slowly (six times), then faster (six times). 

Exercise XII 

Open the mouth wide; proceed with the tip of the sharply-pointed 
tongue from the right to the left, brushing the upper lip and passing 
along the lower Hp back to the right without interruption (six times), 
slowly; then (six times), growing faster by degrees; repeat from the 
left to the right, in the same maimer. 

Exercise XIII 

Repeat the same exercise along the inner side of the lips. Dur- 
ing this exercise touch the lips sharply with the tip of the tongue. 
Do not open the mouth too wide here. 

Exercise XIV 

Repeat the same exercise along the outer side of the lips. 
Let it be borne in mind that the purpose of these exercises is to 
sharpen the tongue, and that they should be faithfully performed. 

Exercise XV 

Protrude the root of the lowered tongue without allowing its 
tip to pass beyond the front teeth (ten, twelve times). 

Exercise XVI 

Sing a tone {ah), holding it as long as possible, without allowing 
it to lose its clear character, and at the same time try to make a cir- 
cling movement with the tip of the tongue; and later, when this 
exercise has been fully mastered, try to make a horizontal movement 



OVERCOMING DEFECTS IN SPEECH 37 

with the tip of the tongue from one side of the mouth to the other, 
first slowly and then gradually increasing in rapidity. 

To hold down the tongue by means of a stick or the handle of a 
tooth-brush, I do not consider at all beneficial. He who does not 
learn to move the muscles of the tongue independently, will not 
derive any aid by forcibly holding the tongue down, or the aid will 
last only as long as the forcible pressure continues. The only rad- 
ical cure for the incorrect activity of the muscles of the tongue lies 
in its perfect control, and this control can be obtained only by means of 
the exercises prescribed. 

He who, during the activity of the muscles of the larynx, is able 
thus to move the tongue, will also be able to keep it in an inactive 
state. 

The Soft-Palate 

Exercise XVII 

The exercise for the soft-palate consists in opening the mouth wide 
and attempting to raise the soft-palate without singing. Here also 
it would be serviceable if the raising of the palate occurred during 
deep inspiration through the mouth, the nostrils being closed. 

The Lips 
Exercise XVIII 

The exercise for the lips is the following: Attempt to move them 
singly; for instance, draw the under hp downward without allow- 
ing the upper lip to move, and vice versa. Produce a tone, hold it 
a while, and make the same movement of the lips. He who has mas- 
tered the muscles of the lips singly, can let them rest when they are 
not to act. 

The Lower Jaw 

Exercise XIX 

Sing and hold a tone, moving the lower jaw (without any pressure 
upon the larynx) horizontally to right and left, and then describe 
a slightly circling movement. The object of this is to free the muscles 
used in chewing. 



38 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

When a person is incKned to use the larynx incorrectly, or gener- 
ally to act with incorrect muscular activity, then, as a general thing, 
all the muscles are strained imnaturally, and thus hinder the free 
development of the organs. 

Some of the sounds that present the greatest difficulty are: 

1. The final g omitted in ing. 

2. Dropping final t or d. 

3. Omitting a letter altogether — r in girl, in New York. 

4. Introducing a letter or syllable wrongly, e.g., sore for saw, 
umber ella for umbrella. 

Slurring and often transforming the final consonant: — 
He sore me — for, he saw me. 
I'll dror a man; throw pronounced trow. 

5. Adding extra g or ^ sound, at end of syllable ing when 
followed by word beginning or last element. 

6. V sounded Kke w and w like v. 

7. th sound as in that, with, weather. 

8. Dropping the final consonants — comin' instead of coming; 
toV instead of told; an' instead of and. 

9. Pronouncing th o,?, d ox t — as pronouncing dem for them 
or tree for three. 

10. Through 1 

Though I apt to be confused. 
Thought J 

11. Children find special difficulty in pronouncing endings 
such as: sts, nd, ing, pt. For a drill, write the following sen- 
tences on blackboard, requiring the children to read them aloud. 

She still insists that it rusts the posts. 
Don't bend the brand new stand I lend you. 
Her singing and ringing laughter deadened the clanging of the 
beUs. 

Wrapped in thought, he crept to bed, and soon slept. 



OVERCOMING DEFECTS IN SPEECH 39 

Sometimes write lists like the following and require the class 
to read them quickly : 

lists mists wrists fists thrusts ghosts 

band hand lend grand send find mind brand 

singing flinging flowing rousing pudding rocking 

wrapt swept kept 

Insist upon careful enimciation, exact enunciation — no 
winders, no want ters, or saw Hm — and no imintelHgible eHsion 
of words, the standing criticism of the EngUsh upon the American 
at large. 

The following suggestions are offered: 

1. Continue the drill lessons to correct such faults, until the 
pupils form the habit of avoiding the faults in ordinary speech. 

2. Show the proper position and use of the necessary organs 
of speech involved in the production of the correct sound. 

3. Pronounce slowly, enunciate clearly and distinctly. With 
foreign children sound is of greater importance than form in the 
beginning. 

4. Give special attention to ear-training. 

5. Train the pupils to listen carefully to the teacher, to 
watch her speak, and to imitate her. Pupils have varying 
ability to discriminate between sounds, therefore special drills 
are necessary. 

6. Occasionally give the sounds of the words, and let the 
children tell the words. 

7. Give the special exercises to correct slovenly pronunciation 
and enunciation apart from the reading lessons. 

8. Insist on slow reading, slow pronunciation. 

9. Teach the simple phonograms first. Train the children 
to blend these into words which they know experimentally but 
which now they are to read. Go slowly. Make the drill 
thorough. 



40 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

lo. Provide for thorough training of the ear and of the vocal 
organs. Keep a list of sentences consisting of words containing 
difl&cult soimds to be memorized and frequently repeated by 
the pupil. All speaking and reading should be audible; do not 
allow mumbling. 

Summary. — The first aim in the teaching of phonics is to give 
the child independence in attacking new words. After the third 
year, the aim should be specifically the improvement of the tech- 
nique of speech. The work should embrace (i) ear training; (2) 
improvement of tone production; (3) training in the accuracy and 
flexibility of the muscular movements involved in speech. 



CHAPTER V 
THE READING LESSON 

Intermediate Grades 

Reference has already been made to the proper conduct 
of the reading lesson, and to the selection of material which is 
to form the subject matter of these lessons. In common with 
every other exercise, the reading lesson should have a definite 
aim. This may be either the right appreciation of an interest- 
ing content, or the mastery of the technique of expression; and 
since our preceding discussion has been mainly devoted to 
form, we shall treat the second of these aims first. 

The reading of a selection aloud by the pupil is, at present, 
the most commonly adopted test of right appreciation by the 
pupil of the meaning of that selection. As will be shown later, 
other tests of equal, and of even greater, value, may be given. 
A faulty reading, assuming that we are thinking of something 
larger than the mere pronunciation or enunciation of the words, 
may be due to one of two causes. In the first place, the chil- 
dren may not really understand the selection they are reading. 
It may be beyond their comprehension because it is on a level of 
thought for the right appreciation of which they are not suffi- 
ciently matured. Secondly, it may be that although they possess 
a somewhat vague, and yet adequate imderstanding of the 
feeling of the selection, they lack control of those expressive 
activities which will enable them to communicate to others their 
own complete understanding of what they are reading. A child, 
for example, may know that a certain passage was delivered in 
an ironical tone, yet he may not know how to express irony by 



42 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

the tone of his voice. He may know that a certain passage is 
subdued and somber, and yet he may not know how to give 
expression to the feeHng which dominates the selection. 

These things are not the possession of the child by intuition. 
It is true, that if sufficient models were presented, they might 
be acquired by imitation. To eliminate waste, however, here 
as in all methods of technique which are to be rated as habits 
of automatic reaction, that which is later to occupy a margin of 
consciousness, must at some time in the formative period, be 
fixed by concentration within the focus of consciousness That 
is to say, if we are at a later period to use all the tricks of an 
elocutionist semi-consciously, while the center of our attention 
is occupied by an interest in a gripping content, we must at some 
earlier time have focalized upon these tricks of the elocutionist, 
making them habitual and automatic. 

In the first three years of the course, all this work should be 
made incidental. A formal lesson in correct expression could 
not be made interesting to the children during this period. 
Where we have a monotone in reading, or a case of misplaced 
emphasis, skilfully directed questions will bring the children 
naturally to emphasize the right word and give the proper tone 
and inflection. 

Beginning with the fourth year, however, lessons may be de- 
voted to this formal work. The subject matter may be some 
very short selection, from a part of a story aheady read in the 
class, the part to be chosen so that it contains material that will 
be of value for such a lesson. In higher grades, where it is safe 
completely to segregate this kind of exercise from the regular 
reading lesson, formal drills on specially constructed or selected 
sentences, independent of the reading matter of the grade, may 
be chosen. Even here, however, this is a dangerous practice 
and should be only sparingly resorted to. 

The direct model for immediate imitation, as presented by 
the teacher, should be most frequently used; care should be 



READING — INTERMEDIATE GRADES 43 

taken that this model may be a good one. Many pupils may 
be called upon to read and to re-read the same part until the 
aim, whether it be clean-cut articulation, the rendering of proper 
enunciatory values, the use of a certain voice quality, the ex- 
pression of a certain feeUng, such as wonder, surprise, terror, 
fear, mystery, has been realized by a majority of the pupils. 
AppUcation should follow, and should consist in the reading of 
an entirely new selection which, however, illustrates the particu- 
lar point that has just been taken up. 

An interesting and profitable exercise in this connection is 
the training in giving what may be called word color; that is, 
uttering a series of adjectives, for example, in such a way that 
the sound will give an inkling of the meaning; or again, of 
uttering the same word, preferably a descriptive word, so as to 
give the expression of different feelings connected with that 
word. In the fifth year, these lessons may occur as frequently 
as once in two weeks. Later, one lesson a month may be con- 
sidered sufficient. It should be remembered that practically, 
unlimited repetition by individual children is almost the only 
method to be followed. 

We now come to the second kind of reading lesson: namely, 
the lesson for content. The aim should be kept carefully in 
mind and should dominate every step of the lesson. Even 
though the unit is a long story, the reading of which may extend 
over many periods, the lesson itself should be a tmit incident or 
episode within the larger story. Details in the technique of 
lessons will vary according to the grade taught, selection pre- 
sented, and so on. For the purposes of this discussion, however, 
we will assume that we are presenting a prose selection to a 
fifth year class. 

Children may be encouraged to collect in scrap-books, pictures 
illustrating the story itself. A bulletin board on the walls of 
the room should contain other material, and wherever possible, 
pictures should be displayed in the class room so as to make the 



44 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

story more vivid. The introduction to the lesson should be 
conversational, and may be based upon some part of the illus- 
trative material gathered by the pupils or displayed in the room, 
which may be brought to bear upon the particular portion to be 
read that day. It may be based upon an illustration in the 
book itself. It may grow out of the title of the story, or the 
heading given to the particular incident. It may be developed 
from some relation drawn by the teacher between the life or the 
personality of the author, and the story or part of the story 
read; or finally, it may center around a question formulated by 
the teacher and covering the content of the selection. 

This preparatory step should be brief, and should be char- 
acterized by snap and vigor. The questions should be definite, 
terse, clear, well distributed, thought provoking, and should 
gradually lead toward the explication of the central point of 
the lesson. The next step should be a silent reading by the 
pupils, the aim of which is to secure a general notion of the 
content, as well as to enable the pupils to anticipate the diffi- 
culties they are to meet with on the formal side, so that 
these difficulties may be removed. This will involve telling 
the pupil the pronunciation of new words, explaining the mean- 
ing of difficult words or passages, making allusions clear, or 
bringing to the level of the children an idea which at first seemed 
to be beyond them. The teacher should, as far as possible, try 
to keep the class parallel in silent reading, by asking them to 
go as far as a certain point in the story, and then to stop until 
all questions on the text have been met. There should be no 
long explanations. 

Wherever possible, children should answer the questions set 
by children. The teacher must never lose sight of the fact 
that the aim of a reading lesson is to have the children read 
and not to have them talk too much about what they are going 
to read. For pronunciation, if the child cannot develop the 
word by comparison with phonic elements already learned. 



READING — INTERMEDIATE GRADES 45 

the teacher or a child may give the pronunciation; or in the 
higher grades, the children should discover the pronunciation 
for themselves from the dictionary. 

In developing the meaning of new words, the children should 
be left to discover the meanings for themselves as far as possible, 
and in the upper grades, should be encouraged to guess at the 
meaning from the context without recourse to the dictionary. 
Use should be made in the higher grades of the knowledge of 
etymological derivatives. Allusions may be made clear in as 
few words as possible by the teacher, while difficulties in the 
thought should be cleared up by making the explanation as 
concrete as possible. A simple dramatization by the teacher 
will frequently save much verbiage, and will give as clear a 
notion as it is necessary for the children to possess. 

As this part of the lesson proceeds, the teacher should write 
on the blackboard the words or phrases brought up by the 
questions of the pupils which she deems of sufficient value to 
warrant drill, and when the silent reading has been completed, 
she should rvm rapidly over the list of words written on the 
blackboard, two, three, or more times, until the pronunciation 
has been well fixed, or the meaning well understood. It is, of 
course, to be imderstood that in the teacher's own preparation 
of the lesson, she has selected words and passages which in her 
opinion warrant explanation because of the difiiculties that 
they present. If any of these are not brought out by the chil- 
dren, the teacher should question on them. 

When this second step, the silent reading, has been completed, 
there should be a return to the content of the lesson by one or 
two skilfully framed questions, bearing upon the general mean- 
ing or the central thought of the lesson to be read. Under no 
circumstances should a child be interrupted for correction while 
he is reading. The teacher may, however, stop him at any 
time and ask a question on the context, a question which will 
call for the expression of an opinion or the formation of a judg- 



46 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

ment. Answers should be given by the children in complete 
sentences, and should be delivered with attention to correct 
envinciation and articulation. While emphasis upon this may 
make the earlier lessons move very slowly, and may develop a 
tendency toward formalism, it will, sooner or later, crystallize 
into a habit and become automatic. 

Each child who reads should stand properly, and should aim 
at correct phrasing. Children should be trained to visualize 
groups of words and to look up frequently from the printed 
page. When the pupil has finished reading a portion which is a 
unit, not because it covers a certain number of lines, or because 
it includes a certain paragraph, but because it is a separate part 
of the story, the teacher may question the child and the class 
upon the meaning of words and of phrases, but more particu- 
larly should ask questions which require a judgment on the part 
of the children concerning the acts and thoughts of the charac- 
ters of the story. 

In calling upon successive pupils to read, instead of following 
a certain definite order determined by the seating of the pupils, 
and instead of getting the next reader by the simple injunction, 
"Next boy read," the teacher may, wherever possible, lead up to 
the portion to be read by questions based on the context, asking 
the question in such a way that it is rightly answered by 
having the pupils read the next portion from the text. Good 
readers may be alternated with poor ones, and all children 
should be encouraged to read in a natural voice without any 
strain. 

Frequently children may be called upon to go to the black- 
board and asked to draw their idea of a scene, the description 
of which has just been read. Sometimes, one or more pupils 
may be called to the front of the room to dramatize either in 
pantomime, by supplying original dialogue, or by using the 
conversation of the text. Sometimes, in the description of a 
person or of a place, the teacher may have scattered indiscrimi- 



READING — INTERMEDIATE GRADES 47 

nately on her desk a number of pictures, not necessarily dealing 
with the subject matter of the story, and the pupil may be called 
upon to step to the desk and select a picture which represents his 
idea of the person or of the place described. 

While a child is reading, the teacher should listen with closed 
book. When all the burden of imderstanding is thrown upon 
the ear, the teacher will create a higher standard of correct 
articulation than she would call for if the ear were continually 
aided by the eye. Sometimes, a child may step to the front of 
the room and read while the entire class listens with closed 
books. Where children fail altogether in giving right inflection 
or proper expression, the teacher need not supply an immediate 
and direct model either by reading the portion herself, or by 
having a pupil read it. A few skilfully directed questions on 
the context may lead the children to see where the proper em- 
phasis should be placed, and what the general thought should be. 

Every reading lesson should end with some kind of summary. 
This may be an uninterrupted reading by the best pupils 
standing in the front of the room while the rest of the class 
listen with books closed. Or it may be an oral reproduction 
of the story by the pupils. Again, the teacher may give an 
uninterrupted reading, although this is probably the least valu- 
able of the suggestions except in the case of poetry, when the 
iminterrupted reading by the teacher may follow the second 
step of the introduction, (that in which the difficult words are 
selected by the pupils), and may precede the reading of the 
poem by the class. Fourthly, the summary may take the form 
of a discussion of the central thought of the selection. Again, 
and once more this has particular reference to a poem, it may be 
a comment on the artistic value of the selection. At another 
time, this summary may be given in the form of a reproduction 
of the story, written by the pupils as seat-work, while the other 
groups are receiving direct instruction from the teacher in some 
other subject. And, finally, one of the most valuable forms 



48 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

of reproduction is the dramatization of the entire story or of 
some leading incident with groups of the pupils. This subject 
will be treated in greater detail at another place. 

Summary. — The aim of a reading lesson should be (i) the appre- 
ciation of content or (2) the mastery of the technique of expres- 
sion. Faulty reading may be due to (i) hesitating or incorrect word 
recognition, (2) lack of understanding of the subject matter, or (3) 
inability to give expressive rendition, (i) may be overcome by care- 
ful study of phonics: (2) by the careful selection of reading matter 
and a proper introduction to the lesson; (3) by formal lessons on 
the technique of expression, direct imitation being most frequently 
rehed upon. 

The points to be considered in a reading lesson for content are: 
(i) The preparation. By question and answer secure emotional 
appreciation and grasping of central thought. (2) Silent reading 
by pupUs under the direction of the teacher. The children ask for 
help on pronunciation and meaning of words, or clearing up of difl&- 
cult expressions. The teacher asks for expressions of judgment on 
the content. (3) Drill on difficult words and expressions. (4) The 
lesson proper. Is the lesson shared? Is enough attention paid to 
the duU children? Is the class reacting on the material presented? 
(5) The sununary. 



CHAPTER VI 
READING TO A CLASS 

Many valuable suggestions on the method of conducting this 
kind of work will be found in McMurry's "Special Method in 
Primary Reading." While it is true that most of the discussion 
apparently applies to the telling of stories, a topic which will be 
discussed later, it will be found that many helpful ideas can 
be gained by a careful study of this book. 

The general aims to be kept in mind in reading to pupils are 
as follows: 

1. To equip the children with a knowledge of stories which 
present such technical difificulties that the children cannot read 
them unaided. 

2. To give to the children an outline of the content which 
will in later terms be read by them, 

3. To create a love for literature that will form an urgent 
motive for their reading, 

4. To furnish models of classic English in narration. 

5. To supply a basis for oral composition by the class. 

6. To give models of expression. 

In selecting a story, the teacher should consider the natural 
interests of the children. She should remember that a story, 
to be interesting to children, must lead up to a climax, that it 
must contain a wealth of detail, and that children are able to 
understand selections read to them which may possess a 
greater degree of difficulty than those they are able to read for 
themselves. The reading of the story may sometimes be pre- 
ceded by an informal talk by the teacher on the content. This 
may deal with a brief account of the central character of the 



50 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

story, if that character be historical, or a description of the 
place in which the action takes place. At no time should this 
introduction degenerate into a mere lecture. 

If the story that is to be read by the children is a very long 
one the preparation may take up an entire period, and in each 
successive reading, the introduction should be a summary either 
by the teacher or, preferably, by the brightest pupils, of that 
portion of the story which has already been read. It will often 
be found valuable to continue the reading only up to a point 
where the teacher may feel assured that the interest of the 
entire class has been thoroughly aroused. Then if, as should 
be the case, the class library has enough copies of the story, 
the teacher may suggest that the children continue the reading 
of the story for themselves at home. While it is true that the 
reading matter may in many places be too difficult for the 
children, the strong interest which has been created will carry 
them over many obstacles otherwise insurmountable. 

The teacher should be so thoroughly familiar with the story 
itself that during her reading she will be able to look up fre- 
quently from the book. Nothing can equal the magnetic power 
of the eye for holding attention. Nor should the teacher feel 
that on the one hand she must read every word of the story, or, 
on the other hand, that she must read nothing but what is in 
the story. Frequently, she will find it advisable to omit passages 
which in her opinion would divert the attention of the children 
from the story itself. All such passages should be carefully 
marked in advance, and the gap may be filled in her own words, 
talking to the class and using language carefully thought out in 
advance. 

At another time where, in a description, details are missing, 
or at some exciting moment, where there is not sufi&cient 
dwelling upon a crisis in the story, the teacher may expand. 
This matter of invention, however, is extremely difficult, and 
should not be attempted by any teacher unless she has carefully 



READING TO A CLASS 51 

thought out what she intends to say. Finally, the teacher is 
not to suppose that there is any sacredness in the text of the 
story as it is before her. The aim is to interest the children and 
to give them complete comprehension. Therefore, the teacher 
may, if she can effect the substitution without halting in her 
reading from the text, simplify the language. 

To the beginner, the suggestion may be made that in the 
preparation for the lesson all these substitutions should be 
carefully noted by interlined words. 

The teacher may interrupt herself in her reading to ask ques- 
tions, calKng for judgment and the expression of appreciation. 
At tunes she may direct her questions in such a way as to lead 
the children to anticipate what is going to happen. Again, she 
may ask children to step to the board to draw their idea of some 
picture as it has been presented to them through the reading. 
At another place, where some particularly dramatic scene is 
described, she may ask a number of children to come to the front 
of the room and assume the poses called for by the text, so as to 
create a tableau which will correspond to the picture described 
in the story. At times she will pause for the purpose of drawing 
from the mass of illustrative material in the form of pictures 
and the like, which she should always have at hand, those 
which will make clearer some description in the text. These 
pictures may be passed rapidly around the room, or if large 
enough to be seen from the front of the room, may be shown for 
a few minutes. 

One of the most effective modes of reading is to have the 
teacher dramatize during the narration. The teacher who sits 
in his chair and merely reads to the class misses the point of this 
work. The aim is to make more vital the whole matter of read- 
ing, and it should be remembered that in point of inflection, 
enunciation, expression, and dramatic rendition, the teacher 
should present a model worthy of imitation by the children. 
If at any time this work is varied by having children instead of 



52 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

the teacher do the reading, care should be taken that only the 
best readers are selected. 

This work must be carefully distinguished from the reading 
of subject matter possessing purely informational value and 
intended to supplement some point that has been made in the 
course of a lesson in history, or geography, or science. 

As the term advances, periods in oral composition may be 
given up to having the children tell in their own language the 
stories previously read to them by the teacher. Lists may be 
given to each teacher in the higher grades, of the stories read in 
the lower classes, so that there may be a constant review which 
will make the stories form a part of the children's cultural equip- 
ment. During the time that the children tell their stories, the 
teacher must remember the old adage that the best teacher is 
the dumb teacher. Of course, if any flagrant errors in English 
are made, these should be immediately corrected; but the 
correction should be given in so occasional and incidental a 
manner that the thread of the story will not be interrupted. 

Summary. — The main purposes of reading to pupils are (i) to 
create a love of literature, (2) to furnish a model for oral expres- 
sion. The selection should be interesting. It may be graded in 
difl&culty above the independent reading plane of the children. The 
preparation should stimulate thought so as to make the listeners 
react upon the material presented. The reading should be intimate, 
animated, and dramatic. Interpolated questions by teacher and 
pupils should maintain interest. Oral summaries by the children 
should be called for to test comprehension. 



CHAPTER VII 
STUDY OF THE MASTERPIECE 

If we attempt to answer in an intelligent way the question, 
"Why should the masterpiece be studied in the elementary 
schools?" we shall perha.ps be able to tell better what aspects 
should be emphasized in the teaching of the masterpiece. In 
the first place, it should be studied because such study has a 
distinct psychological value. It requires prolonged attention, 
and it satisfies the desire for continued narration or description. 
Secondly, the study has a distinct cultural value. It is an in- 
troduction to the great classics of our language. It enriches the 
entire course of study. And, finally, because of the interest in 
the content it furnishes a motive for training in formal English. 

The study of the masterpiece should come late in the ele- 
mentary school curriculum. For this, three reasons may be 
adduced: First, it is difficult to sustain attention for the long 
period during which the study of a single masterpiece is con- 
tinued. Secondly, the average tone of the ordinary masterpiece 
selected for study is such as to make it beyond all but the most 
mature pupils in the elementary school. Thirdly, since the 
main purpose is cultural, the study of the masterpiece should 
appear in the course of study only after a reasonable degree of 
mechanical facility in reading English and in understanding 
difficult expressions has been attained. 

We can perhaps best understand why critical study is desirable 
if we first state the purposes it is not intended to subserve. It 
is a waste to devote the time set aside for the study of a literary 
masterpiece to the teaching of proper reading with its attendant 
drill on enunciation arid expression. The great danger of modern 



54 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

language work is that it spreads itself over too large an area, and, 
consequently, lacks depth and thoroughness. We treat the 
English branches as the quartermaster treats the much-abused 
army mule. He sees the usefulness of the animal and hastens 
to pile on its back every conceivable kind of army munition, 
from the wheel of a cannon to a case of canned meat. 

There is need of concentration in our language work. As 
we have already suggested, one of the reading lessons in the 
month should be devoted exclusively to drill on expression. 
The drill on clear enunciation should be kept separate. Spelling 
should be taught as a separate branch of the course of study, 
and above all, the period for literary study should be kept 
altogether for that purpose. If we attempt to teach the tech- 
nique of reading in connection with the literary appreciation 
of a work of art, we may fail in both. Concentration is the 
secret of success in life. Why should it not be the secret of 
successful methods? 

Moreover, we ruin the artistic effect that it is our aim to 
secure. Who has not suffered the misery of listening to a 
bungling reader who robs anything he reads of what literary 
merit it may possess? Since it is necessary that many portions 
of the literary selection shall be read, it may be laid down as a 
fundamental principle that either the teacher will read to the 
class so as to build up a standard of good reading, or else that 
the pupils called upon should be those of whose power the 
teacher is reasonably sure. 

Secondly, it should not be our aim to teach form primarily 
in the study of a masterpiece. Too much of our so-called 
literary appreciation is nothing but formal criticism and is 
purely technical. When a man has nothing to say about a 
work of art, when he is most signally lacking in appreciative 
insight, he has recourse to criticism of technique. Over-sensi- 
tiveness to form is an infallible symptom of degeneration in art. 
The center of literary study should always be the thought. 



STUDY OF THE MASTERPIECE 55 

Critical study of a work of literature does not mean the 
teaching of rhetorical forms, figures of speech, rules of prosody, 
etc. If we analyze every simile and name it and trace its 
inception and test its aptness, we will lead the pupil to approach 
a masterpiece much as the botanist does the rose — with 
microscope and tweezers so close that he loses the effect of the 
flower, so intent on the magnified petal and the parasite it 
carries that he fails to notice the delicious perfume that greets 
his nostrils, and so wrapt up in the parts that he does not see 
the rose itself. It is a mistake to teach the figures of speech 
during the time devoted to critical study. They are as much 
formal elements as are infinitives, participles, and phrases. 
They should be studied separately and distinctly, with illustra- 
tions properly noted from the best literature. How this can be 
done in connection with the work in composition, will be shown 
later. If we are to call the attention of the pupil to figures of 
speech at all in the study of the work in hand, they should be 
tools at his ready disposal before he comes to the study of the 
literary gem. 

The true aim of critical study should be to secure to the pupil 
the ethical and aesthetic efifect of the art work, to aid him in 
analyzing the effects produced on him, and to show him how 
such effects are secured by a happy choice of words, by apt 
illustrations, by beautiful imagery, impassioned diction, or by 
the infusion of the artist's individuality into his work. No 
literary masterpiece that is worth presenting to children is 
without a distinct ethical effect. No work can be a masterpiece 
unless it is aesthetic. 

Let it not, however, be imagined that it is our purpose to teach 
ethics and aesthetics as such to the children. It is a very easy 
matter to encourage children to think thoughts that are too 
complex for adequate utterance. What we must do is to culti- 
vate the feehng for what is good and noble and inspiring and 
thus indirectly to cultivate sympathy with goodness, nobility, 



56 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

and true inspiration in life. Just as the end we wish to attain 
is without definite bounds so should our work be free and in- 
spiring and as far as possible from the cut and dried rigidity 
of formalism and grammatical analysis. Over elaboration, too 
minute study, these are the pitfalls which the teacher should 
avoid. 

In the selection of a suitable literary work let there not be 
too much regard for correlation with other subjects of the grade. 
Unity in grade work is desirable, but there is great danger of 
overdoing the matter and making the work monotonous. Let 
us attempt to correlate with the pupil's thinking rather than 
with his studies. 

However untenable in all its implications may be the so-called 
cultural epoch theory, it is perhaps safe to say that a certain 
development is noticeable in children's taste in reading. In the 
fourth year, interest centers mainly on wonder working, super- 
natural beings. In the fifth year of school Ufe, the child bums 
with eagerness to read about adventures in unknown regions. 
The sixth year of school course seems to be the period for a more 
subjective interest to show itself, and tales of personal valor are 
the most sought after. In the seventh year, when the critical 
study is specifically to be taken up, what most interests the 
children is a story of self-sacrifice or one of success in the face 
of almost insurmountable obstacles; and in the eighth year it 
would seem that stories that tell of intrigues and plots make the 
strongest appeal. 

Arbitrary as this classification is to a large extent, it is helpful 
as a guide in the choice of the masterpiece. At all events from 
the teacher's point of view, the work selected must possess some 
embodiment of ethical principle. The greatest care should be 
taken that the principle be a positive one and that it be not 
beyond the complete comprehension of the children. The 
masterpiece selected should be "the expression of the expulsive 
power of a higher emotion." It should supply high ideals of 



STUDY OF THE MASTERPIECE 57 

conduct; it should have true Hterary value; its structure 
should be firm and evident; its language should be suggestive 
in the highest sense; its theme should be uplifting; its appeal 
should be universal yet personal. 

Frequently in suggested methods of studying a long master- 
piece, several readings are recommended. In one outline, three 
readings are suggested. First, it is said that there should be a 
reading for general conception. Some portions are to be read 
by the teacher for the purpose of creating a right atmosphere. 
Other portions are to be read aloud by the pupils in the class. 
Minor portions are to be read by the pupils at home. This is 
followed by a second reading for the more careful treatment of 
important parts, the aim being to bring about appreciation 
of the beauty of the selection rather than to accumulate a fund 
of information regarding words or allusions. A third reading is 
suggested for efifective oral rendering of those parts of the selec- 
tion which make special appeal to the pupil's imagination and 
sympathy. 

As has been reiterated in connection with practically every 
subject in our treatment of the teaching of English, the principle 
that should underlie all method in literature is that there must 
be in the mind of the child an urgent motive for every step in 
the study. The great question which the teacher should ask 
herself is "What are the interests that the children have upon 
which I can act? " Such inquiry brings to light the presence 
of two dominant interests upon which the method of teaching 
the masterpiece is to proceed. First, there is an interest in the 
entire story. Secondly, there is an interest in the best possible 
rendition of passages that appeal to the imagination and sym- 
pathy of the pupil. Here all study of meanings, etc., is sub- 
ordina'ted to the motive of adequate oral rendition. 

The study of the masterpiece may then more properly be 
conducted in two readings, the aim of each being determined by 
that motive or interest of the children which the reading is 



58 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

intended to meet. At the first reading, there should be a general 
introduction, the purpose of which should be to create the right 
atmosphere. The pupils may be encouraged to prepare blank 
books in which they will write accounts of the author, besides 
the circimistances under which the work was produced. In 
addition they may collect pictures which with appropriate sub- 
scriptions will make an interesting scrap-book. The teacher 
should by anticipation suggest the general theme of the story. 
Of course, in the reading of a play the suspense should be main- 
tained by having the children continually on the qui vive for 
the outcome of the plot. There should be an alternation of 
narration and direct quotation. Sometimes the teacher will 
tell the story; sometimes she will read. Frequently, some of 
the best readers of the class may be called upon to continue the 
reading of the story, but all the questioning in this part of the 
work should tend to make clear the sequence of the story and 
the general lesson or the general effect which it produces. There 
need be no assigned home reading. Whatever part of the story 
is taken up in the class room should be new to the pupils. Each 
new reading should begin with a skilful review of the earlier 
portions which will blend naturally into the part to be taken 
up in this particular lesson. By careful preparation, the teacher 
can decide upon stopping places at dynamic points in the story, 
the aim being to carry over the interest at highest tension from 
period to period. There should be constant appeal to the judg- 
ment of the pupils. 

When the story has been gone through in this way, a summary 
may be called for from the best pupils. It is not always neces- 
sary that this be actually written. Such a recapitulation of a 
masterpiece may involve so much work as to degenerate into 
drudgery. Nor is it essential that the children should paraphrase 
any part of the story. If the work is a masterpiece its own word- 
ing is inevitable and any attempt which the pupils make to put 
the same thought in words of their own, always means lowering 



STUDY OF THE MASTERPIECE 59 

the literary value. Compositions, however, may be written 
based upon problems suggested in the course of the reading. 

The second reading of the masterpiece should be of parts 
which the class selects as being worth study in greater detail. 
Skilful direction by the teacher will result in the right choice 
and at the same time will develop the right standards in the 
pupils. If the understanding of the life of the author is neces- 
sary to an understanding of the masterpiece, the biography 
should be taken up before the second reading; otherwise it may 
be postponed until after the study of the masterpiece is com- 
pleted. Although some teachers advocate the use of the dic- 
tionary continually in the study of the masterpiece, it may be 
well at the beginning to have the children merely guess the 
meaning of words from the context, and to assign for home work 
the checking up of this guessing by reference to the dictionary. 
Grammatical analysis should be resorted to only when a con- 
struction is particularly obscure and when the analysis will 
result in making the thought clearer. Allusions which are of 
merely passing interest should be incidentally explained by the 
teacher. Where they open interesting lines of thought and 
investigation, they should be assigned for research work. 

Poor readers should not be allowed to take up the time of the 
class. At the periods regularly given for drill in formal reading, 
these pupils may be helped to overcome their shortcomings. 
It is desirable that parts of the masterpiece be assigned for 
memorizing. It will be found best to place a minimimi number 
of lines to be memorized each week, and to have the pupils select 
their own memory gems. Finally, it may be said that the 
measure of success which the teacher meets in the study of 
the masterpiece is not a calculable quantity. The best result 
is not a high percent in an examination but rather a high degree 
of enthusiasm for literature. 

From all that has been said, one may well be led to suppose 
that the most important matter in the teaching of EngHsh is a 



6o THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

knowledge of a correct method. As a matter of fact, teaching 
in this present year of grace is suffering from the curse of too 
much method. The latest graduate from normal or training 
school talks glibly of principles of education and dabbles freely 
in the technical jargon of methodology, juggling with polysyl- 
labic compounds and sonorous phrases, and yet too frequently 
lays bare great gaps in the knowledge of the subject matter she 
is endeavoring to present. 

No thinking teacher will minimize the value of an intimate 
acquaintance with the thought-processes of the children before 
her; nevertheless there is no factor more productive of poor 
teaching than a supreme rehance upon the efl&cacy of this or 
that method as the sole medium of successful presentation. In 
the last analysis, no plan, however sound in its basis in child- 
psychology, can take the place of a well-grounded mass of in- 
formation. The teacher with a full eqmpment of broad culture 
will always outshine the mere methodist. In the present era of 
educational reform the tendency is far too strong in the direction 
of minute study of formal steps and devices and modes of 
"concretizing," and to a corresponding degree is deplorably 
weak in the importance attached to a first-hand knowledge of 
the subject matter. In many quarters the feeling is spreading 
that a good method is the only prerequisite to good teaching. 
Methods are vital, yes; but no less so is broad and accurate 
information. 

The kind of knowledge of which the teacher should be pos- 
sessed is determined by the general aim subserved by the pres- 
ence of a subject in the course of study. In nature study, 
where the purpose is to awaken in the child a sympathetic 
appreciation of the wonders of the natural world, leading him 
through knowledge to reverence, the teacher should be equipped 
not with a symbolic agglomeration of facts as collected in a 
printed page, but with the truer insight into Nature's processes 
that comes only to him who with open mind goes forth under 



STUDY OF THE MASTERPIECE 6i 

the open sky to list to Nature's teachings. History develops 
character through the study of notable t3^es, and gives civic 
power through a right judgment of past events. To present the 
subject properly, the teacher must have at ready command so 
detailed a fund of information that as she stands before her 
class every character is a Kving personality in her mind, and 
every historical event is an inevitable link in a closely connected 
causal chain. So in literature, and particiilarly in the teaching 
of a masterpiece in the last two years of the course, the aim is to 
realize through emotional and intellectual appreciation an active 
love of the higher forms of literary art — a love which shall 
find expression in self-direction toward the classics, accompanied 
by a rejection of the tawdry and the superficial. Only by him 
who hath can be given. The teacher who does not feel an im- 
pelling love of the beautiful in Hterature, the teacher who does 
not know of her own knowledge why this is a classic and that 
mere clap-trap, such a teacher can never be successful in her 
work, be the method what it may. The former characteristic is 
essentially emotional and therefore is incommunicable; the latter 
is simply a matter of culture and can be achieved by any one. 

With a realization of the importance of this sort of equipment, 
it is our purpose in discussing a masterpiece to show exactly 
what a teacher should know of the author and the work if she 
is to feel ready to teach intelHgently. Nothing is further from 
our intention than to suggest that this information is to be 
given in whole or even in large part to the class. It is an 
adult's appreciation of a Hterary work and can only indirectly 
color the teaching. For our first illustration we shall consider 
the study of the "Courtship of Miles Standish" as taken up in 
the seventh year. 

By way of preface it may be said that the facts of Longfellow's 
life and the circumstances surrounding the writing of the poem 
in question should be f amiHar to the teacher. Any good edition 
of the work will give this information. 



62 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

The life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow falls naturally into 
two more or less clearly defined periods. The first is that of 
preparation and extends from childhood to the close of 1836 
when he entered upon the duties of his professorship at Harvard. 
The second is that of his maturity, the period of his productive- 
ness, which continued with breaks for almost two generations. 
For our present purpose the first period is of greater importance. 

There can be no questioning of the fact that Longfellow was 
the most favored of the New England writers. He started hfe 
with many advantages. His home surroundings were of a kind 
to encourage any taste for Hterary pursuits which he might 
develop; and while this is to some extent true of all the men who 
made up the Boston coterie during the middle of the nineteenth 
century, unusually favorable conditions are to be met with in 
the case of Longfellow. At no time did he suffer financial 
embarrassment. He never enjoyed great wealth, yet when a 
trip to Europe was mentioned as necessary to an appointment at 
Bowdoin, the money was forthcoming, though we are led to 
believe by passages in his letters that some domestic economy 
was necessary. In his parents Longfellow found appreciative 
critics, and, moreover, minds which could share his pleasure in 
his work. 

From his Journal we learn that he had a truly poetic apprecia- 
tion of the beauty of nature. His mind was ever open. He 
glories in a beautiful day and basks in the mellowing sunshine 
of the summer sun. The song of the first returning bird in the 
spring is an event worth recording. Most particularly does he 
note the blue skies of early autumn. And yet we remark certain 
deficiencies in the entries. We find no discussion of deep 
problems, and yet America was at this period passing through a 
maelstrom of intellectual and political changes. Nowhere do 
we come upon expressions of the inevitable doubts that assail 
the profound thinker. He Uves his life without apparent 
worriment. Most of his records tell of his books, his friends, 



STUDY OF THE MASTERPIECE 63 

and the success that greeted the publication of his volume of 
poems. 

There is a world of difference between "occasional" poems 
and poetry which is the forced expression of great emotions. 
Like the lava of an active volcano, the latter breaks its outlet 
for itself and pours beyond all bounds. Longfellow's poetry is 
mainly "occasional." Where it is emotional, how simple is the 
state of mind he seeks to express! And in this very simpHcity 
lies the secret of his popularity with the middle classes. At 
times, as in "The Spanish Student," he displays a true poetic 
fervor and he writes in the heat of inspiration. But even here 
it is not the white heat; it is only a warm glow. 

Out of the fulness of his life comes the work of the poet. 
Longfellow's hfe glided on like a river, darkened here and there 
by shadows of earth, but nowhere tiunultuous or dashing. 
We note with him as with Hawthorne, the almost total 
lack of active sympathy with the great movement making for 
the abolition of slavery. All is calm and quiet. The character 
of the man's work is to a great extent determined by his experi- 
ences in life. What a man becomes is conditioned no less by 
the experiences he encounters than by the native qualities he 
possesses. Some of these reactions upon his environment reveal 
undreamed potentialities. Like the acid on the old parchment, 
they bring to light the hidden treasures of the past. No man 
can attain to the sublime who has not passed through a period 
of storms and stress — who has not met temptation and con- 
quered it — who has not fought life's battle to the very end. 
A calm life never produced works of powerful genius. "Paradise 
Lost" and "Samson Agonistes" would not be what they are 
had not Milton fought the two great battles — one for his 
countrymen against oppression, the other for himself against 
doubt and loss of faith. Where a strong human interest attaches 
to any work we may be sure that the creator of the work has 
himself passed through soul-racking emotional experiences. 



64 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

Much of the intensity of the pre-Shakespearean dramatists can 
in a sense be traced to the kind of Hfe they led. 

Longfellow passed a life of such even tenor that one day was 
almost the counterpart of every other. In a college town, sur- 
roimded by friends, meeting strangers only occasionally, now and 
then traveling abroad — he had few strong emotions in life. 
Yet while this environment set narrow bounds to his poetic 
expression, there was a great compensation. We find a strong 
moral force in his work. He had the time and the opportunity 
to turn his attention inward and examine his motives. Where 
there are a good heart and a strong religious foundation in the 
man, such introspection can result only in strengthening of the 
moral fibers and in elevation of the self toward a higher ideal. 
Longfellow had a good heart. He was tender, yet not effemi- 
nate. His bearing toward his equals was S3anpathetic; while 
to those below him he was kindly, simple, and never overbearing. 
He had the faculty of making many close friends and no man, 
so blest, can lack strong moral traits. 

He had experienced sorrow in his Hfe. As he says, "the first 
pressure of sorrow crushes out from our hearts the best wine." 
In the poems written during the years of affliction there is a note 
of hope and faith. He was too firmly rehgious to be a pessimist. 
We read his saddest poems and yet are lifted up by the tone of 
resignation. We feel the melancholy, yet like the poet, we 
never succimib; "behind the clouds is the sun still shining." 
He never permitted sorrow to press on him with constant 
weight; had he done so, when the wine was all gone, the pressure 
might have brought forth bitterness from his soul — "the taste 
and stain from the lees of the vat." 

Imagination was the ruHng power of Longfellow's mind. 
He Hved in a world which he constructed for himself. All the 
commonplace experiences of life recalled to him scenes from the 
half-forgotten tales he had so eagerly read, and picture succeeded 
picture until the original scene was forgotten and the poet, lost 



STUDY OF THE MASTERPIECE 65 

in reverie, was transported to a new world. No better charac- 
terization of this phase of Longfellow can be made than that 
which he gives of himself under the name of Paul Flemming in 
"Hyperion." "His thoughts were twin-born; the thought 
itself, and its figurative semblance in the outer world. Thus, 
through the quiet, still waters of his soul each image floated 
double, 'swan and shadow.'" No trait of Longfellow's poetry- 
is more prominent than this. In his earlier poems we find the 
twinship established even in mechanical details. In "The Light 
of Stars," for example, we first have an introductory stanza 
describing the scene; then come four stanzas given to the de- 
scription of the red star blazing in the southeast — the symbol 
of defiant strength. There is a transitional stanza, beginning, 

"O star of strength, I see thee stand," 

which shows the effect of the star upon the mind of the watching 
poet, and then follow four stanzas which give the double or 
spiritual appHcation of the original idea. The earlier poems, of 
course, show this duplication more markedly than do the more 
mature products of later years. In the "Beleaguered City" 
(1839) the gemination extends to the use of the same words 
wherever possible. "The Rainy Day" shows in the first two 
stanzas a perfect parallelism, while the third is the expression 
of a hope which fits equally well into either half of the original 
thought. 

So much for the personahty of the poet and the general trend 
of his work. Let us now turn to a consideration of the specific 
poem we are preparing to teach. 

Although Longfellow's mind was beset with grave doubts on 
the subject, his "Hiawatha," "a poem on the American Indians 
. . . which was to weave together their beautiful traditions 
into a whole," proved to be an immediate success. It is possible 
that this experience made him more ready to occupy himself 
with another subject of American life. His theory of a national 



66 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

literature was one based not on the geography of the country, 
but on the expression of national tendencies. He says, "In 
surveying a national literature the point you must start from is 
a national character." And nowhere in America was there a 
homogeneous element better fitted to produce a common type 
with common tendencies than in New England. It was to this 
phase of our history, therefore, that Longfellow naturally turned. 
At any rate, when, a few weeks after the publication of "Hia- 
watha," one of his friends urged him to write a poem on the 
Puritans and the Quakers, he remarked, "A good subject for a 
tragedy," and began looking over books which would give him 
incidents. He read Dr. Young's "Chronicles of the Pilgrim 
Fathers" and Mr. C. W. EHot's "History of New England," 
the latter an attempt to reconstruct the interior, household life 
in greater detail than had been achieved by others. 

The first evidence of this interest was the beginning of "The 
New England Tragedies," the third part of the Trilogy entitled 
"Christus: A Mystery." Then it would seem that as an 
alternative, lighter work he began a drama, "The Courtship of 
Miles Standish." Later he modified this to a "kind of Puritan 
pastoral," imder the name of "Priscilla" and finally, in 1858, 
he proceeded steadily with the work, finishing it in two months 
and giving it the name it now bears. We are told that the in- 
cident of Priscilla's reply, on which the story turns, was a tradi- 
tion, and that additional interest attaches to the story because 
John Alden was a maternal ancestor of the poet. "Longfellow 
did not think it necessary to follow the early Plymouth history 
with scrupulous reference to chronology; it was sufficient for 
him to catch the broad features of the colonial Hfe and to repro- 
duce the spirit of the relations existing between Plymouth and 
the Indians." 

While in all our appreciation of a literary work, we should 
endeavor to accept the product within the limitations set by 
the author, for our purposes it is necessary to know something 



STUDY OF THE MASTERPIECE 67 

of the historical basis out of which Longfellow evolved the story- 
presented in the poem to be studied. Miles Standish was a 
Pilgrim soldier, born about 1584, in Lancashire, England. He 
had served as a soldier in the Netherlands and although not a 
member of the church, was chosen captain of the New Plymouth 
settlers. By his summary treatment of hostile Indians he 
inspired them with awe for the English. His wife. Rose Stand- 
ish, was one of the victims of the famine and fever of 162 1. In 
1625 he visited England as agent for the colony and brought 
supplies the next year. In 1626 Standish settled in Duxbury, 
Massachusetts, where he lived the remainder of his days, 
administering the ofl&ce of magistrate or assistant. He died 
October 3, 1656. A monument was been erected to his memory 
on Captain's Hill, Duxbury. In Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, are 
preserved, among other relics of the Pilgrims, Standish's sword 
and the barrel of his musket. 

John Alden was bom in England in 1599; he was employed 
as a cooper in Southampton and, having been engaged to repair 
the Mayflower while awaiting the embarkation of the Pilgrims, 
concluded to join the company. It has been stated by some that 
he was the first to step on Plymouth Rock. After his marriage, 
in 162 1, he settled in Duxbury, and for more than fifty years he 
was a magistrate in the colony, outliving all the signers of the 
Mayflower compact. He died in Duxbury, September 12, 1687. 

The verse form that Longfellow adopted in "The Courtship 
of Miles Standish" is known as dactylic hexameter, unrhymed. 
It consists of six accented syllables, each of the first five in the 
type line being followed by two unaccented syllables, the sixth 
by a single unaccented syllable. He had experimented in it, 
in his translation of "The Children of the Lord's Supper," and 
in his Hues "To the Driving Cloud." From the outset he had 
no hesitation in selecting it as the meter for "Evangeline." He 
chanced upon a specimen in Blackwood of a hexameter transla- 
tion of the "Iliad," and expressed himself very emphatically on 



68 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

its fitness. "The English world is not yet awake, to the beauty 
of that meter." His use of it had much to do with the revival 
of the measure. Holmes said, "The hexameter has often been 
criticized, but I do not believe any other measure could have 
told that lovely story with such effect as we feel when carried 
along the tranquil current of these brimming, slow-moving, 
soul-satisfying lines, . . . The poet knows better than his critics 
the length of step which best befits his muse." 

The hexameter verse in " Miles Standish " differs in its general 
effect from that produced by the more stately form used in 
"Evangeline" through its greater elasticity. "A crispness of 
touch is gained by a more varying accent and a freer use of 
trochees." It would be well to have a class feel tHe rhythmic 
lilt of the verse and compare it with the sedate mavement of 
the earlier poem, as also with the rh3nned and shorter lines of 
other narratives in verse. 

The tale is told in nine parts, each working up to a climax. 
The opening characterization of Miles Standish is clean cut and 
definite, while the second section, "Love and Friendship," 
presents in its very title the essence of the conflict which is to 
form the center of interest. From these introductory cantos, 
if they may be so called, the movement is simple and progressive. 
"The Lover's Errand" throws the attention over to John Alden 
and accordingly we find the fourth part devoted to him and to a 
setting forth of his troubled state of mind resulting from the 
answer he had received from Priscilla. The action advances 
once more in Part V, treating of the sailing of the Mayflower, 
and is then halted that the third characterization, that of 
Priscilla, may fairly set forth the last of the principal actors in 
the little drama. The next two cantos give a parallel course of 
events, the first dealing with Standish, the second with Priscilla 
and John Alden, under the title of "The Spinning Wheel." The 
pretty idyllic scene is rudely interrupted by the messenger 
bringing in hurry and heat the terrible news from the village 



STUDY OF THE MASTERPIECE 69 

that Miles Standish is dead. The lovers, kept apart by the 
reluctant loyalty of Alden, are united, and the last canto, "The 
Wedding Day," ends with a beautiful picture rendered all the 
more complete by the entrance of the bewildered captain. Such 
is a crude analysis of the poem, into the parts that should be 
kept distinct by the teacher in her presentation. 

It has already been said that the method to be followed in the 
teaching is determined by the interests of the children. At this 
point we shall go even further. It is inadvisable to advocate 
any one method for the treatment of the different kinds of 
classics to be studied in the last years of the elementary school 
course. Two considerations determine any method: First, 
right appreciation of the psychology of apprehension; secondly, 
a correct valuation of the subject matter. 

In a broad way, education has begun to adjust itself to the 
newer point of view which places the child and the child's 
interest at the center of the educational scheme. But we have 
not yet realized all the impHcations of this theory in the field 
of method. Three readings, or two, or even four, — the 
number itself has no magic potency. The important point is 
that there shall be just as many readings, and only as many 
as are necessary to meet an urgent demand on the part of the 
children. The nature of this demand is determined by the 
character of the selection. "Julius Caesar" has its gripping 
hold on the attention of the children because of the story. 
Three readings will kill this interest and make the study 
degenerate into a dead deHvery of the printed word. Similarly, 
"Miles Standish" is a pretty little story and for the normal 
child there are but two definite motives impelling him to its 
study. These are, first, the interest in the story for its own 
sake; secondly, the desire to reread passages here and there 
because of the appealing nature of the verse, or of the 
dramatic situation portrayed. Since better understanding 
intellectually is always a key to fuller emotional appreciation, 



70 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

the second interest as a final aim is the impelling motive to a 
text-study which would otherwise be dull and meaningless. 
The plan of study that is here laid down is designed to furnish 
material for the educative satisfaction of these motives. 

It is necessary that the class first miderstand the mode of 
living of the early Plymouth settlers. In the presentation it is 
well to quote wherever possible from the poem itself. Two or 
three lessons shoidd su£&ce for a review of the historical facts, 
with which the class is already familiar, for a characterization 
of the leading personages in the story, such as is given above, 
and for an account of the customs and occupations of the early 
settlers. Concrete illustrations should abound. A series of 
pictures from the advertised collections of some of the large 
picture publishing companies should be suitably mounted and 
kept continually on view. References should be made to them; 
it will frequently be found that a long explanation may be 
avoided by the mere showing of the picture. Boughton and 
Taylor have treated scenes of Puritan life with more or less 
historical accuracy, but always with sympathy and insight. 
Constant recourse should also be had to Hart's "American 
History Told by Contemporaries," in which will be found a 
wealth of graphic detail. 

The first ten lines of the description of Standish with which 
the story opens may profitably be used as a basis for describing 
modes of dress and of warfare during this period, and may open 
inquiries which let in a flood of fight on the home life. Why 
was it a table of pine at which Alden was writing? Why 
was the field of wheat planted above the grave of Rose Standish? 
How many people were there in Plymouth at this time if there 
were but seven houses in the little settlement? Why was the 
Mayflower returning to England? These questions and others 
of the same sort are not necessarily to be asked of the class. 
They are indicative of the attitude the teacher should adopt in 
reading the poem while preparing for her introductory lessons. 



STUDY OF THE MASTERPIECE 71 

Her own skill and ingenuity will show themselves in the careful 
weaving of these details into her preliminary account. 

It is always well to bridge the gap between parts of a lesson- 
whole by setting a problem or formulating a question. At the 
close of the first lesson the teacher may make some such state- 
ment as this, "Now we know a little more of these simple pious 
folks, how they suffered and Hved and how at length it seemed as 
if they had really found a true resting place. We have learned, 
too, something about their miUtary captain, Miles Standish. 
To-morrow (?) M^e shall begin to read a poem which will tell how 
Standish wanted to marry, in what a curious way he set about 
it, and whether he succeeded or not." Of course, with the 
poems in their possession and with the creation of a right atmos- 
phere, any class will rush through the story to find out what it is 
all about. Nor is this to be checked. In fact, one of the pur- 
poses of the graphic and vivid introduction is to create such an 
interest that the class of its own initiative will read the poem. 
If this result is not attained the presentation cannot be said to 
have been altogether successful. 

From this point the reading should proceed as in a regular 
reading lesson. The stopping places should be chosen skilfully 
so that the ground covered may be a vmit, while the concluding 
situation gives a propelUng interest that will carry the class over 
into the next reading. As each boy reads there should be brief 
questioning on the content, elucidation of involved passages, 
explanation of terms, etc. 

When the lesson has been brought to a close and has been 
properly summarized, the time should have been so arranged 
that a few minutes remain during which the teacher may dictate 
words or passages to be the subject of the pupils' research. A 
better plan may be to have these all prepared on mimeographed 
slips and to distribute them at the close of the lesson. The 
introduction to the new lesson should include not only a brief 
statement of what was read the day before, but also a rapid 



72 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

questioning on the meaning of the words and phrases. Care 
should be taken not to attempt anything exhaustive in this 
first selection for word or text study. Whatever is necessary 
for right understanding should not be omitted from explanation, 
but only those should be assigned for pupils' research which 
have a definite cultural or aesthetic value. Thus "choleric" 
would be explained, if necessary, by the teacher in the lesson, 
but should not be assigned for pupils' study; also the references 
to Caesar, although these may be simply explained in connection 
with the study of the grade in history. "The well-worn Psalm 
Book of Ainsworth," if possible, should be explained by the 
fac-simile picture of a page; otherwise a simple statement by 
the teacher should suffice. The advance work is done in the 
class room, the only work done at home being on those parts 
already presented with the aid of the teacher. 

One lesson may be given to a general review of the story, 
not so much for the purpose of the narrative as for questions and 
answers on the characters, and on the preferences of the pupils 
for different passages. 

Up to this point, in spite of the fact that there has been con- 
tinued questioning, it may be said that there has been more 
opportunity for impression than for expression. It is here that 
a second motive becomes urgent, if the presentation has been 
vivid and interest-compelling. To enter upon a detailed study 
of the poem would be entirely out of the question. The pupils 
are not sufi&ciently developed, and even if they were, the results 
would be of doubtful value. There are, however, two phases 
of the expressive instinct that may be utilized for a more inten- 
sive study of selected parts of the poem. On the one hand, the 
love of dramatization will lead children to study in great detail 
passages of narration that lend themselves readily to this form 
of expression. The teacher may select dramatic places in the 
story, set before the class as goal the presentation of the entire 
poem in the form of pictures to the accompaniment of dialogue 



STUDY OF THE MASTERPIECE 73 

in the language of the poem, and proceed to a careful study of all 
passages that will shed light on the characters or help to a better 
dramatic interpretation. What passages to choose is a matter 
left to the discretion of the teacher. There should not be many, 
nor should they be too long. Moreover, in the dramatization, 
no part should be monopolized by any one pupil. Three or four 
boys may impersonate Standish, so that the interest of the entire 
class may be enlisted in the work. Naturally the acting of the 
"play" before the school is a fitting climax to the work. 

The second phase of the expressive instinct is found in the 
desire of children to give pictorial representation of scenes that 
appeal to them. The teacher should select two or three striking 
scenes, such, for example, as the sailing of the Mayflower, 
and setting as aim before the class the representation of this 
scene with the aid of crayons or water-color, should proceed to a 
detailed study of the descriptive passages that will aid a proper 
representation. It may be objected that not all the children 
can draw well, that they are self-conscious and do not throw 
themselves into this kind of work with any enthusiasm. The 
second criticism is one that will not hold if this sort of expressive 
work has been carried on throughout the grades. As to the 
first, if all the children cannot draw, all can study a descriptive 
passage so as to get suggestions which may be offered to the few 
talented ones who are to do the drawing for the class. The 
figuring of the scene that will come after careful study will give 
sound basis for intelligent constructive criticism of the selected 
children's pictorial representations when offered for inspection. 

Summary . — The masterpiece should be studied (i) because it 
has psychological value in that it calls for prolonged attention; (2) 
because it has cultural value in that it introduces the pupils to the 
classics; (3) because it has pedagogic value in that it furnishes a 
motive for training in formal English. These values being second- 
ary or derived, the study should come late in the course. The work 
should not be hindered with exercises in articulation, with the study 



74 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

of teclinical grammar, or of rhetorical forms. These are to be sub- 
ordinated to securing the aesthetic and ethical effect of the master- 
piece. There should be two readings meeting the dominant interests 
to be appealed to. These interests are (i) the interest in the 
narrative as such; (2) the desire to give satisfactory oral rendering of 
passages that appeal to the pupils. For the teacher the best equip- 
ment is not so much knowledge of the best method as it is mas- 
tery of the subject matter and an appreciation of the art value of the 
masterpiece presented. Expression for the pupils may take the form 
of oral reading, spontaneous or memorized dramatizations, or pic- 
torial representation. 



CHAPTER VIII 
STUDY OF THE MASTERPIECE (Continued) 

In order to show how different the study is when the emotional 
and psychological element rather than the narrative element is 
emphasized in the telling of the story, it may be well to show in 
some detail the treatment of Tennyson's "Enoch Arden." 

The teacher should read some full account of the life of the 
author. In these days of intimately personal biographies it is 
an easy matter to procure several volumes full of details and 
anecdotes. The teacher must remember, however, that we are 
interested in the work of Tennyson, not because he is the polished 
master of modem English verse, nor because he is the representa- 
tive of the modern spirit as it found expression in poetry, nor yet 
because he is the idyllist of EngHsh legendary lore, but because 
he is the true prophet, in the ancient sense, of the deepest and 
highest thoughts and feelings. We are interested in him not 
from the literary side but from the ethical, from the emotional, 
from the aesthetic. With this side of the author the teacher 
must become familiar. She must study the history of the com- 
position of the work, its relation to the Hfe of the author, and 
its relation to his other works. 

There should first be an account of the life of the author 
replete with personal detail. Anecdotes should be freely used 
to illustrate characteristic traits of his personality. An account 
should then be given of the circumstances imder which the 
particular work was written. Nearly every masterpiece has an 
interesting personal history. 

When the regular study is taken up, either the teacher should 
do all the reading or she should call upon the best readers of 



76 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

the class, going over a few lines without questioning until some 
logical stopping place is reached. Then the class should retrace 
the step taken and the analysis of the thought should begin. 
Each day's lesson should be so planned that it will stop at a 
logical place in the story. Each reading is to be preceded by 
telling the story as far as it has developed from the instalments 
already read, and some of the more important questions may be 
revived to give pupils opportunity to settle moot points. There 
may be occasional composition exercises, oral as well as written, 
narratives alternating with descriptions. The attention is to be 
concentrated on the thoughtfulness of the compositions. All 
attempts to paraphrase portions of the work studied are to 
be discountenanced. No paraphrase can hope to equal the 
original in beauty of diction, and we must keep the aesthetic 
appreciation unimpaired. 

The story of the poem may be told in two periods on two 
succeeding days. The first reading may with advantage be 
closed at the point in the story where Enoch, on the desert 
island, sees the crew from the ship land in search of fresh water. 
The second reading begins with a brief summary of the first. 
Conversation may then be begun on topics Hke those here sug- 
gested. 

What is the great act of Enoch's life that makes it noble? 
What is the noblest act of Philip's life? What name may we 
give to the quality of Enoch's character that is shown in his 
actions on his return to his native village? Can you think of 
any other stories that show us the same quaHty? Can any one 
make up a story to show that this noble quality may be possessed 
by any one of us? Who will give some example? What 
name may we give to the noble quality shown by Phihp? Do 
you think he was doing Enoch a wrong? Why? (Tell the class 
that the noblest act of friendship is to extend help to those who 
are dear to our friends). 

Which of the two men do you Hke better? Why? 



STUDY OF THE MASTERPIECE 77 

It is not advisable to encourage too minute a comparison of 
the two characters. 

Do you think Annie was not true to Enoch when she married 
PhiHp? Why? (Emphasize to the children the fact that 
Annie was thinking of her children, and dwell on the beautiful 
aspects of the mother-love. Speak of the sacrifices that parents 
are continually making for their children, and show the children 
that love and obedience are but the natural return due from 
them to their parents). How do you think the story would have 
ended if Enoch had told who he was and made himself known to 
all the people? 

Detailed Study 

Read the first stanza to the class. Notice how brief the descrip- 
tion is and yet how complete. We have a full picture before our eyes. 
When we try to say this in the ordinary way we lose force. Brev- 
ity is always more emphatic and forcible than long speeches. (Refer 
the children to English history, and teU them that the words "Danish 
harrows" should almost place the exact spot; ask them to look the 
matter up). What does the word cuplike mean? How would you 
express the same idea by usiag geographical terms? Which way of 
saying it tells better what the place looked like? 

Read the second stanza. What does three house mean? What 
differences would you expect in the characters of the two boys and 
to what do you think these differences are due? Notice the exact 
uses of adjectives by the poet. For uistance, why is the cordage 
hard? Why are the fishing nets ^war^/jy.? (Because they are tarred). 
Why is the fluke of the anchor rusty ? Why are the boats updrawn ? 

Who knows of fines from a certain American poet in which use is 
made of the same idea we have in the last four lines of this stanza? 
(LongfeUow's "Psalm of Life"). 

Read the third and fourth stanzas. (Do not discuss the third 
stanza at all; let it act on the children spontaneously. They will 
understand it perfectly). 

Why does Tennyson call childhood rosy ? What is the meaning of 
the line. Ere he had touched his one and twentieth May? What 



78 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

comparison have we met that was like the use of the word 
nestlike? Why does Temiyson use the word clamber' d in speaking 
of the narrow street? 

Read stanzas 5 and 6. Notice the kind of picture you get when 
the poet uses the words, golden eventide. (Do not have the f;hLldren 
analyze the image; let them get the feeling of the phrase). How was 
the hazel grove situated with respect to the village? Refer to the 
first stanza. Notice the expression, feather toward the hollow. Why 
did Philip read his doom ? (Explain briefly the lines third and sec- 
ond from the last in the sixth stanza). 

Read stanzas 7, 8, and 9. What are the duties of a boatswain? 
Notice the expression, fiery highway. Who can teU some* stories 
of the love that men have had for their horses? Why does Enoch 
love his boat so much? 

Read stanzas 10 and 11. Why did not Annie wish to let Enoch 
go to China? What was Enoch's old sea friend? 

Read stanzas 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. Notice the beautiful compar- 
ison at the close of stanza 13. Notice how simple it is — just what 
one would expect in such a simple tale. Who can find another of 
these simple comparisons in stanza 16? 

Read stanzas 18 and 19. What is a glass? Who use this term? 

Read stanza 20. (No comments; the story is too pathetic). 

Read stanzas 21 to 26, inclusive. Why had Phihp never called 
to see Annie? What incident in his boyhood shows this same qual- 
ity of his character? See stanza 3. Notice how, although Phihp 
comes to do a great kindness to Annie, he puts the matter so that 
you might think Annie was doing him a favor. It is how we do a 
kindness that counts for more than what we give. What is a garth? 
stanza 25. In stanza 26 what is the meaning of the words made him- 
self theirs? Explain the use of the word lazy to describe the gossip. 
(Explain to the class the last three lines of the stanza). 

Read stanza 27. Why did the children come to love Phihp more 
than they did the memory of Enoch? Explain the use of the word 
fathom. How is the word generally used? Explain the beautifxil 
expression that you find in this stanza. 

Read stanzas 28 to 2)2>} inclusive. Notice how well the poet has 
used blossom-dust in his comparison of the miller to the bee. Why 



• STUDY OF THE MASTERPIECE 79 

is this word just right? Do you notice anything else that is very 
fitting in this comparison? Explain once more what a down is. (Call 
the attention of the class to Tennyson's use in this stanza of the 
exact words that we met in stanza 5; his purpose is to ask us to 
remember what took place once before in this spot). Why are the 
hazels described as ze'Mew^wg .? Why are the boughs re^wdawi.? (Ex- 
plain to the class Honest forehead, stanza 30. Call their attention 
to the ellipsis in the conversation and show them by illustrations 
how natural a touch this is. Ask for further illustrations.) Notice 
that this is only the second time that we hear Philip speak for any 
length of time, and that in each case it was to plead for a chance to 
do some good to others. Explain the origin of the expression bide 
my year. In what other way might the poet have spoken of the 
dead flame of the fallen day ? 

Read stanzas 34 and 35. What idea do you get from the poet's 
wonderful use of the word flashed in the expression, autumn into au- 
tumn flashed again ? Pass the next stanza without comment. 

Read stanzas 36 and 37. (Explain the line. Compass' d round by 
the blind wall of night, laying particxilar emphasis on the use of the 
word blind. Explain to the class the superstitious beUef in dreams.) 
Notice once more the use of repeated expressions in stanza 37. Can 
you see how the poet leads us at this point to get some idea in advance 
that Enoch stUl lives? 

Read stanzas 38 to 42, inclusive. Why does Tennyson call Enoch's 
ship Good Fortune ? Explain the Cape, Biscay, summer world, breath 
of heaven, golden isles, oriental haven. Notice in stanza 40 how poet- 
ically the Knes teU us that the ship sailed fast. Who can read the 
lines? Why were the ship-wrecked mariners ill-content in spite of 
the beauty of the isle? 

Read stanza 43. Tennyson never was in the tropics, yet travelers 
say this is a wonderfully accurate description. The power of imag- 
ination is the truest sign of the real poet. Dwell on the details of 
this description and try to show pictures to the class that wiU make 
the imagery more vivid to the children. 

Read stanzas 44 and 45. (Explain to the class what illusions are.) 
The ringing of beUs that is described here is taken by the poet from 
a story told to him by a man who was shipwrecked in this way. But 



8o THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH • 

notice how the poet has used this fact to suggest an event that has 
taken place in Enoch's native village. What is that event? It 
was faith alone that kept Enoch aKve. Here give some quotations, 
Biblical and others, relating to the power of faith. 

Read stanza 46. Why does the poet use the words early-silvering 
head? What had caused Enoch to lose the power of speech? Why 
had he never noticed the loss of this power before? 

Read stanzas 47, 48, and 49. Notice that the poet does not teU 
us how Enoch felt; how does he give us a picture of Enoch's mind? 
(By making the scene a reflex of his thoughts.) For a good ex- 
ample, read to the class Longfellow's "Rainy Day"; the paralleHsm 
here is perfect. 

Read stanzas 50 to 53, inclusive. Notice, in stanza 51, that the 
comparison used is one suitable for a sea-tale; and notice, also, 
how particularly fitting it is, in that it suggests that when Enoch 
does go to the house, Uke the bird, he goes to his ruin. Read once 
more to the class the surpassingly beautifid, yet simple, description 
of the interior of Philip's home; ask the class to think of Enoch's 
thoughts as he looks in, but make no other comment. 

Read stanzas 54 to 58, inclusive. Note the force of the term 
dead man. What does it mean? Make no other comment. 

Read stanza 59. Bring home to the children the moral truth that 
the thought that we are douig right is in itself a great reward. So 
it was Avith Enoch — he was not all unhappy. Note once more the 
beauty of the comparison at the close of this stanza, and notice how 
fitting it is in a sea-tale. This use of fitting figures gives an air of the 
sea to the whole story; it is what we call the atmosphere of the poem. 
Who can explain why we call it by this name? Now, who can turn 
back in the poem to other comparisons that help to create this atmos- 
phere? 

Read stanzas 60 and 61. No comment. Pause a Httle to give 
the stanzas opportimity to leave their undoubted impress. 

Read the rest of the poem. For the explanation of the calling of 
the sea, see "A Memoir of Lord Tennyson," by his son. Show the 
class how the last three hnes of the poem teU, indirectly, the whole 
story of what took place after Annie and Philip heard who the dead 
man was. 



STUDY OF THE MASTERPIECE 8i 

The teacher may close with a return to some of the general ques- 
tions on the characters asked at the beginning of the study. 

Summary. — Where the emotional appeal of the masterpiece is 
strong, the pupU should be called upon to judge of acts and motives 
with a view to establishing general standards of conduct. The 
study of diction should lead to a feeling for the right use of words. 
The appeal should be to the music of the word, to its suggestive 
power, and to its inevitableness. 



CHAPTER rX 
STUDY OF THE MASTERPIECE (Concluded) 

As an illustration of the method of studying a prose master- 
piece, we may take Benjamin Franklin's "Autobiography." 
The appreciation of a masterpiece consists not only in the com- 
prehension of a story, not even in a feehng of its beauty, but 
in the reconstruction and reorganization of the personal experi- 
ences of the reader by the aid of the richer and fuller content 
expressive of the personal experiences of a creative genius. The 
problem of the teacher is to analyze the work with a view to 
discovering what are the experiences or aspirations of the child 
which should be recalled to him as the first step toward a com- 
plete sympathy with the content of the work he is to study. 

From this point of view, an autobiography is of value in the 
elementary school not as a literary work but as the record of 
the life of a man ; and its value will be proportioned to the value 
that man's life has when translated into the experiences of the 
pupil of the elementary schools. The study of Franklin's 
"Autobiography " is only an intermediate step to an appreciation 
of Franklin, the man. As a literary work the book does not 
respond to a need in the child's expressive interests; he does not 
care to study its style for, normally, he is not yearning to record 
his life-story for posterity. But what he is interested in, is the 
account of the development of a man of power in his time, from 
the humblest of beginnings. Potentially, he is a Franklin; 
and in the career of the apprenticed printer he sees his own 
possible life unfolded before his kindled imagination. 

The aim of the teacher, therefore, should be to present not 
the autobiography of Franklin, but Franklin himself. A pre- 



STUDY OF THE MASTERPIECE 83 

liminary reading is useless, since in a seventh year class the 
children are already possessed of a general knowledge of Franklin 
and his influence on the early history of the nation. In so far as 
a detailed study of selected portions is necessary to make possible 
an emotional appreciation of dynamic periods in the man's 
career, there should be due emphasis on the form. But in every 
case the selection of the part read should be made so that it will 
illustrate a vital point in the development of the man; it should 
verify through the actual experience of Franklin an actual or a 
possible situation in the life of a boy. 

To read the entire book in the time allotted would be mani- 
festly impossible; parts chosen for actual reading should be 
complete in themselves and should present dramatic episodes in 
Franklin's life. The necessary connections between these parts 
may be made by oral reports on portions of the autobiography 
read at home by the pupils or by questions prepared by the 
teacher and bearing on the development of historical events 
during the period in question. To simamarize, then, only one 
reading should be given. This should be of selected parts — 
units in themselves and capable of treatment in a single period. 

Naturally the dominant question is, "What part shall be 
selected?" In other words, "What aspects of Franklin may we 
rightly assume appeal to the boy in the seventh year, either 
because they meet his personal ideals, or because they serve to 
reconstruct the notions he has received from his earlier study of 
American history? " 

These criteria as we understand them are three in number. 
They are those which are indicative of an appreciation of 
Franklin under three aspects, viz.: FrankHn, the self-made 
man; Franklin, the marvel of versatility; Franklin, the man of 
affairs. As typical of the first, we should select portions of the 
autobiography which will show us the steady application of the 
youth, his industry, his systematic mode of living, his frugality. 
For the second, we should choose portions which present the 



84 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

varied aspects of his career, the scientist, the practical inventor, 
the author, the man of business, etc. While for the third we 
should take parts from the autobiography which show the 
important part he played in politics at home and in diplomatic 
relations abroad. The first two will, if properly presented, 
satisfy personal ideals; the third will serve to vitalize historical 
notions already acquired by the pupil. A partial selection is 
here given. The pagination is that of the edition of the auto- 
biography pubHshed by D. C. Heath & Co., and edited by H. 
A. Davidson. 

1. His youth, p. 7 to middle page 12. 

2. How he educated himself; p. 14 to middle page 18; then 
page 19, top p. 21; p. 22, middle page 24. 

3. Trip to Philadelphia; entrance into the city, p. 29 to top 
page 36. 

4. Life in Philadelphia, p. 51, top page 54. 

5. Life in London, p. 56, to page 72. 

6. Life in Philadelphia, p. 103, bottom p. 106. 

7. His moral education, p. 108, and 135 to 155. Three or four 
lessons, omitting the discussion of religious matters. 

8. The Almanac, pp. 155 to 158. With copious quotations from 
the Almanac itself. 

9. His pubhc service, p. 167 and 178 to 193 with omissions. 

10. As an inventor, etc., pp. 250-265. 

11. As civil benefactor, pp. 189-193 and 203 to 208, 

12. His plan of union, pp. 209-215, inclusive. 

13. As English agent, and as colonel, pp. 266-287. Much may be 
rapidly passed over; four lessons in all; perhaps three wiU suffice. 

The lessons may be conducted hke ordinary reading lessons 
except that the introduction should consist of a siunmary of the 
connecting parts or of a review of the historical events. The 
questioning throughout the lesson should bear upon the develop- 
ment of that aspect of the man, the consideration of which 
prompted the specific choice of the part of the autobiography 



STUDY OF THE MASTERPIECE 85 

under study. Illustrative material of many sorts, it is needless 
to add, should be employed. 

As a further illustration of how the method to be followed in 
the study of the masterpiece will always be changed by the 
nature of the work studied, we give a brief analysis of the 
method to be followed in taking up the study of Irving's "Rip 
Van Winkle." 

While the general mode of presentation is determined by the 
motives supplied by the pupil's dominant interests, the approach 
to the lesson must be regulated by the content of the masterpiece 
itself. In Longfellow's "Courtship of Miles Standish" the 
story is one that involves characters and a phase of our history 
already more or less famiKar to an average seventh year class. 
Hence the first lessons dealt with the story of the Pilgrims and 
the difficulties and dangers attendant upon their early settle- 
ment in Massachusetts. Here, however, we are endeavoring 
to present a story which was an original creation with Irving — 
at least in the form we have before us in "Rip Van Winkle." 
Our interest here must be in the author and then by transference 
in the story. A literary study of Irving is entirely out of place 
in an elementary school. But he can be presented in such a 
way as to connect with certain historical facts already known 
by the class. Such a presentation is here attempted. Much 
of the information to be given may form the subject matter of 
the teacher's talk; but it is not to be inferred that all should 
be demanded from the class in return. 

In the Edinburgh Review for January, 1820, Sydney Smith 
wrote, "In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American 
book? or goes to an American play? or looks at an American 
picture or statue? " In the August number of the same periodi- 
cal for that year, we read, "The courteous and ingenious 
stranger (Irving) whom we are ambitious of introducing to the 
notice of our readers." No student of Hterary movements 
dares to assert that changes in attitude are efifected within the 



86 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

brief compass of time that is represented by the few months 
separating these excerpts. Still, it cannot be doubted that 
during the first quarter of the nineteenth century a great change 
took place in the critical judgment of England regarding literary 
affairs in America. Irving has been called the "Father of 
American Literature" — the "first American man of letters to 
gain the ear of Europe." Our political independence was secured 
in 1783; our commercial identity was assured in 181 5, at the 
close of the Second War for American Independence. But our 
intellectual declaration of independence was not issued until 
1837 when Emerson in his ringing oration on "The American 
Scholar" sounded the note of national individualism. As a 
necessary forerunner to this, however, was the recognition on the 
part of English critics of the existence of a native literature, 
distinctive and worthy of its source; and it was Washington 
Irving who was the compelling force in this struggle for separate 
existence. 

It is therefore as a pioneer that the author whose work we 
are to present, is of most interest to us. Partly because of the 
barrier raised between the countries by the political conflict, 
partly because the smug complacency of the early nineteenth 
century Britisher brooked like the Turk no rival near the throne, 
all literary work in America was regarded with disdain by the 
contributors to EngHsh periodicals. Repel a suppHcant and he 
fawns all the more. In proportion as our writers were contemp- 
tuously thrust aside so did they more assiduously give themselves 
to complete adulation of their scorners. Although Irving 
succeeded in gaining a grudging recognition in England, he did 
not live to see the total rehabiHtation of American literary 
independence. 

It will be of interest during the introductory presentation to 
speak of Irving's work in various directions. There is little 
connected with his youth that is of value to us in tracing the 
growth of his Hterary career. More important than his reading 



STUDY OF THE MASTERPIECE 87 

or his book-education were the trips he took through the Hudson 
valley and up into Canada. Bryant says Irving was the first 
to describe the extraordinary beauty of the Hudson, and such 
reports as we have, serve to indicate the strong impression made 
on him by the virgin forests and the blue mountains of his 
native State — "a, realm of wonder and enchantment." 

"Of all the scenery of the Hudson, the Kaatskill Mountains had 
the most witching effect on my boyish imagination. Never shall I 
forget the effect upon me of the first view of them predominating 
over a wide extent of coimtry, part wild, woody, and rugged; part 
softened away into aU the graces of cultivation. As we floated 
slowly along, I lay on the deck and watched them through a long 
svunmer's day, undergoing a thousand mutations under the magical 
effects of atmosphere; sometimes seeming to approach, at other 
times to recede; now almost melting into hazy distances, now 
burnished by the setting sim, xmtil in the evening, they printed 
themselves against the glowing sky in the deep purple of an Italian 
landscape. . . . 

"To me, the Hudson is full of storied associations, connected as 
it is with some of the happiest portions of my life. Each striking 
feature brings to mind some early adventure, or enjoyment; some 
favorite companion who shared it with me. . . ." 

In order to bring a class into somewhat the same attitude 
toward the country which forms the background of the story, 
the room should be supplied with pictures of the Catskill 
Mountains, cut from magazines, railroad folders, and the like. 
Pupils may be encouraged to continue the collection in their 
scrap books, accompanying the pictures wherever possible by a 
sentence selected from the descriptive portions of the narrative 
and written underneath the picture. In schools blessed with a 
stereopticon lantern a lecture may be given by the teacher. 

In 1807, Dr. Samuel Latham Mitchell published "Picture of 
New York" — "said to be ridiculous, even among works of 
its time, for ponderous pretentiousness." Irving and his two 



88 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

brothers conceived a mere jeu d^ esprit, the notion of writing 
a burlesque of this work, and with this view, as we are informed 
by his nephew, they took a vast quantity of notes, in emulation 
of the erudition displayed in the commencement of that work, 
which began with an account of the Aborigines. They started, 
therefore, with the creation of the world. As he went on, the 
style and purpose changed and there was produced a comic 
history of old New York — "The History of New York, by 
Diedrich Knickerbocker." 

A lesson may profitably be given to this work. The class 
will be delighted with the account of the preparatory adver- 
tisements intended to arouse curiosity. How successful these 
were may be judged from the fact that one of the city authori- 
ties came to consult Irving 's brother on the propriety of offer- 
ing a reward for the missing Diedrich. There are many 
excellent selections from "the richest piece of native humor 
that the country has produced" which will be hugely enjoyed 
by children already familiar with the historical facts connected 
with the leading personages of the story. 

This work made Irving famous. Charles Dudley Warner 
says: 

"Outside the Dutch families, the History was hailed with univer- 
sal delight, as the most witty and original production from any 
American pen. The first foreign author to recognize its peculiar 
merit was Walter Scott, who read it aloud to his family, till their 
sides were sore with laughing, he asserts, and who saw in it a close 
resemblance to Dean Swift, and indications of powers that reminded 
him of Sterne." 

For the purposes of the seventh year work it will scarcely 
be advisable to enter into an account of Irving's biographical 
and historical writings. Two, and only two, elements enter 
into a right appreciation of Rip Van Winkle: sympathy with 
the ardent love Irving felt for the beauties of the Catskill 



STUDY OF THE MASTERPIECE 89 

Mountain country and acquaintance with the grotesque and 
whimsical spirit in which he dealt with the traditions of Dutch 
New York. The teacher should aim to make both these 
factors living and real things in the minds of the children. 
How the first of these entered completely into the Hfe of the 
man may be learned from his choice of Sunnyside as his home 
in later Hfe. 

It is with the "Sketch Book," of course, that we are most 
directly concerned. Only a consideration of the powers of 
the particular class to take up the work can determine how 
much of the information here given should be presented to 
the children. One caution, however, should be noted. The 
interest of the pupils is in the story as such and not in the style 
or the technique of construction. The analysis of the sketch 
from the literary point of view is given solely for the purpose, 
already suggested, of furnishing the teacher with a broader 
background of cultural information. 

The writing of the book was undertaken by Irving with a 
definite purpose. Relations between the two branches of 
English-speaking people were strained. The haughty con- 
descension of the Britisher was resented by the American, 
just beginning to find himself in a national sense, and strong 
in the consciousness of youthful power. On the other hand, 
the self-sufiiciency and assertive independence of the Ameri- 
can traveler was equally offensive to the staid Briton who 
shut in his horizon with provincialism and deep-rooted faith 
in vested tradition. More than any other man of his time, 
Irving brought about a better understanding and laid the 
foundation for a more tolerant respect. His papers on English 
life, tinged with quaint humor, sympathetic withal, and with- 
out sacrificing any of the cherished notions of American in- 
dependence, gracefully paid tribute to the Old Home of 
American traditions. His portrayal of American scenes and his 
characterizations of native types were delicious in their refine- 



90 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

ment and showed an impartial judgment that brought about a 
truer appreciation. 

The success of the book was immediate. Intended originally 
for publication only in America, it met with so favorable a 
reception here that pirated editions began to appear in England, 
and, in self-defense, Irving was compelled to arrange for an 
authorized publication. It was once a cause for national pride 
to refer to the fact that Murray, a leading English publisher 
and bookseller, who had once declined to undertake the publi- 
cation of the "Sketch Book" later asked for the privilege, and 
became in a way Irving's literary sponsor in England. 

As a stylist, Irving belongs to the eighteenth rather than 
to the nineteenth century. The very form of his work, the 
essay or sketch, was the characteristic product of the earlier 
period. Many of his descriptive papers might well have been 
taken from any of the numerous lighter periodicals of the 
Augustan Age. He is a nineteenth century Addison, or better, 
an American Goldsmith. We find the same, polish and finish, 
the elusive charm, the same quips of fancy, the same super- 
ficial and yet accurate characterizations that we meet in 
the earlier writer. And whether it be due to the individual- 
ity of the author, or to the unconscious influence of the English 
models he constantly set before himself, we have a similar 
style. The curious Latinisms that abound in the work of those 
who belonged to our classic prose age are found here and make 
detailed study in an elementary school almost an impossible, 
certainly a difficult task. The sentence structure is totally 
unlike that of our modern writers. Fashions change in style 
of literary expression as in all else. The nicely turned, pungent 
phrases of Addison are no longer typical of twentieth century 
writing. While models of precise utterance and pointed ac- 
curacy may be found in his work, a good modern style typical 
of our age could not be gained by devoting one's days and 
nights to the study of Addison. It is important that the 



STUDY OF THE MASTERPIECE 91 

teacher keep this well in mind lest she turn aside too frequently 
for the consideration of mere technique. Present day condi- 
tions demand terseness and directness of diction, and simplicity 
and brevity in sentence structure. 

When all is said, however, the story's the thing. In "Rip 
Van Winkle" we have a veritable classic, for it possesses the 
one indispensable quality, inevitableness. Once let the work of 
genius find expression and it gives us the feeling that it could 
not have been expressed in any other way. This quahty "Rip 
Van Winkle" possesses in a high degree. The story itself was 
not original with Irving nor is it even native to America. But 
whether he has adapted it from a German or a Spanish source, 
he has so identified it with the country in which he has placed 
it that it is "racy of the soil." Its charm grows with repeated 
readings, and to the placidity of the style he adds a delicate 
hinnor and a color of romance which give it an irresistible 
appeal. 

Read what Charles Dudley Warner says of it in his charm- 
ingly intimate essay on Irving: 

"And how simple Rip Van Winkle is. A less artist wovild have 
dressed it up and overloaded it with a thousand fanciful elaborations, 
such as the imagination of each of us likes to supply. How true it 
seems, and how old. In fact it is old. And yet the original setting, 
the exquisite adaptation of the legend to its locality make it a new 
creation. It has the same dignity of antiquity as the Legend of the 
Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, or of the Moslem youths, attended by 
the wise dog, Ketmehr, who went to sleep in the cave above Damas- 
cus." ... (It has) as much power of living on in the popular mind 
as anything done, said, or written in this century. And the amazing 
thing about (it) is that (it is) 'local,' and under a strong suspicion 
of being 'provincial,' having sprung out of a virgin soU never sown 
with tradition nor watered by age and custom." 

It is the story which the teacher should aim to present as a 
vivid reality to the class. And although, alas! — the legend 



92 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

has come to be so interwoven into our thinking that it is famil- 
iar to almost every child, the interest of the children should 
not be choked by any attempt to give a necessarily garbled 
epitome of its leading episodes. The story may easily be 
divided into smaller units, each susceptible of treatment within 
the limit of a single period, each complete and expressive of 
some vital part in the development of the whole. The treat- 
ment of these parts should be that of the regular reading lesson 
and those portions not taken up in the class may be assigned for 
home reading to be reported on orally by the class as an intro- 
duction to the next lesson. 

If the literature study of the higher grades is carried on 
along such Hnes as have here been suggested, we may hope to 
create in the children's minds a love for the best. There will 
be no drudging recitation of memorized notes. Deadly analy- 
sis of sentences will not rob the children of any appreciation of 
the content. The class will come to the lesson with eagerness 
to read. The masterpiece itself will leave a lasting impression 
upon the pupils and the teacher to some extent will have suc- 
ceeded in establishing a standard of critical literary taste. 

Summary. — Where the dominant aim is the portrayal of a per- 
sonality, the study of form should be subordinated to the human 
interest of the story. 



CHAPTER X 
THE ORAL REPRODUCTION OF STORIES 

The aim in this work is, first, to furnish the child with a 
knowledge of stories that will add to his general culture. 
Secondly, to enrich a valuable ethical idea with an attractive 
story. Thirdly, to give the child exercise in the use of accurate 
English. Fourthly, to increase the child's vocabulary. Fifthly, 
to give concrete illustrations of important rhetorical principles 
of narrative, such as unity, proportion, climax, etc. Sixthly, 
to lend interest and variety to school work. 

The stories which are selected for oral or for written repro- 
duction by the children should possess some of the following 
characteristics : 

1. There should be a strong predominance of the narrative 
element. The earliest Uterary expression of the human race 
was in the form of narration. The child is more strongly 
attracted by things done than by things seen. Movement 
is the earliest phase of a conscious life. This interest in action 
.remains strong throughout life. It is easier to interest through 

a play than through a novel. Pantomime is more expressive 
than language, and if we are to be determined in our choice 
by the interests of the children, we should see to it that narra- 
tion forms a large part of the content of the stories. 

2. The stories should contain phases of child life. Our 
entire discussion of method centers around the idea that the 
child and the interests of the child should be the determinant 
of content and of method. It may be pertinent to point out in 
this connection that the same suggestions which will be made 
regarding the selection of poems for memorizing should be 



94 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

followed here. If the story possesses the quality of the classic, 
it will be not only interesting to the child but capable of broader 
interpretation as the experience of the child increases. 

3. The story must be well constructed, leading up to a defi- 
nite climax. The greatest weakness in a child's telling of a 
story is its "flabbiness." Nor is this true entirely of children. 
It is only the trained raconteur who can so dispose the parts 
of his story as to keep up interest, maintain suspense, and 
deliver himself of a telling climax. 

4. The story either should be complete or should be sus- 
ceptible of division into well-defined units. The complete 
story would, of course, be very brief and partake more of 
the nature of an anecdote. Such work does not require pro- 
longed interest and while it may be of value in the lowest 
class, it should occasionally give way in the upper grades to 
the longer story. It must, of course, be admitted that to a 
child in the second half of the first year, it is a diflSicult task 
to maintain interest in one story for a great length of time. 
This difficulty can be met by selecting stories which embody 
the cumulative element. 

5. The story should have distinct ethical, artistic, correla- 
tive, or literary value. 

6. It shuld admit of being told in the simplest language. 

7. It should admit of expansion through richness of detail. 
One of these suggestions, viz., that the stories should have 

a correlative value, calls for explanation. Stories from Kip- 
ling, Thompson, and Long, for example, may be used in connec- 
tion with nature study. Stories of the school and of home life 
may be taken from an almost unlimited nimiber of literary 
sources. Those which deal with the subjects of the course of 
study may be found already told in suitable form by such 
writers as McMurry, Pratt, and Kean. Stories which will 
grow out of the excursions taken by the class may be such as 
deal with monuments, tablets, etc. While the work in ethics 



ORAL REPRODUCTION OF STORIES 95 

may be made vivid and interesting by using Biblical stories 
for purposes of illustration. 

For excellent suggestions as to the method of telling these 
stories to the children, the teacher should consult McMurry's 
"Special Method of Primary Reading," or Sarah Cone Bry- 
ant's "How to Tell Stories to Children." A few hints may be 
given here: 

1. Tell the story in an easy manner, interrupting yourself 
at times to ask questions of the children. Do not read the 
story, and be continually on the lookout that the language 
you employ is suited to a child. 

2. In telling the story, emphasize certain words and expres- 
sions which will add to the vocabulary of the children, and see 
to it that these are used by the children in the reproduction. 

3. In the questioning with which you interrupt your own 
telling of the story, never allow indiscriminate answering from 
the entire class. 

4. Never have a story absolutely memorized by the children. 

5. When the children reproduce a story, ask them, at times, 
to face the class. 

6. Be alert in preventing discursiveness. 

7. Just as you should make your telling of the story ani- 
mated by dramatization and characterization, so you should 
demand the same of the children when they reproduce. Occa- 
sionally, have the reproduction take the form of a dramatic 
dialogue. Insist that the children inflect their voices, phrasing 
to imitate the different speakers. 

8. Never break the thread of the story told by the children for 
the purpose of correcting errors in English. When errors are 
made, let your correction be given in a casual way. Suggest the 
right word and have the child proceed with as little interruption 
as possible. Do not try to teach correct forms during this period. 

9. Insist upon complete sentences in the answers given by 
the children. 



96 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

10. Do not leave a story until most of the class are able to 
reproduce it. 

11. Occasionally give, through a picture or some other de- 
vice, the beginning or the elements of a story, and ask the 
children either to finish or to compose the story from the ele- 
ments given. 

12. In reporting a story in your plan book, if you keep one, 
include, in S3TiopticaLform, the telling points of the story as 
you have given them. This will emphasize for you the need of 
making these points important, and will make your work more 
definite. 

The method of securing good oral and written reproductions 
of stories as it is here outlined is based upon one employed in 
the schools of Yonkers, where it has been tried for a number 
of years with great success. Whatever originality is to be 
claimed for the present method lies not in creation but in 
adaptation. 

The number of stories that can be taken up in any one term, 
according to this method, is very small. It must therefore 
be prefaced that the total number of stories told to the children 
in any one term should not be limited to those upon which this 
detailed work in reproduction is to be spent. It will usually 
be found that not more than three stories can be taken up in 
a half year. In addition to these, the teacher should select 
perhaps half a dozen others which she will take up in a much 
more superficial fashion, calling only for a general knowledge 
of the story and power to reproduce it in as good English as 
possible. From the second year onward, the stories that are 
selected should be classics of intrinsic worth. During the ele- 
mentary school coiu"se, the child may, in this way acquire the 
power to tell, in fluent and original style, over forty stories 
of gradually increasing length and complexity. This, it must 
be remembered, will be in addition to the stories told in merely 
a cursory fashion, while it will also exclude the stories used 



ORAL REPRODUCTION OF STORIES 97 

in correlation with history or geography, or derived from the 
reading matter of the grade. 

Because so few stories are to be taken, a proportionately 
greater burden rests upon the teacher. Since the children 
will be occupied with only one story during perhaps five or six 
weeks, the teacher must become assured that the self-activity 
of the children is really at work, that the interest is spontane- 
ous, and that the energy put forth is free and dominated by a 
live valuation of the end to be attained. 

Suggestions as to how this kind of interest may be directed 
to this work will be of value. Class-room decoration should 
display some unit-idea applicable to the work of the grade, 
and suited to the age of the children. The idea should be the 
center which will dominate the teacher's choice of stories for 
oral reproduction. 

First Year — "Mother Goose Room." Here the pictures 
illustrating a nursery rhyme may decorate the room and 
the central feature of the decoration may be Mother Goose 
herself, broom in hand. Other figures may be those taken 
from the jingles and the nursery rhymes. Wherever possible, 
number work should grow out of incidents of the jingles. The 
illustrative drawing may be made to center around the story 
work. The reading would be of these stories, and the oral 
reproduction would be of stories taken from a Mother Goose 
book, 

''The Farm Yard." — Here the decorations may be alto- 
gether of country scenes and of domestic animals. A corner of 
the room may be set apart for a small model farm. The toy 
farm, chicken-coop, stable, etc., and the toy animals would 
be readily furnished by the children. In addition, there could 
be regular planting of grass, corn, oats, etc., in small pots of 
earth into which the farm proper might be divided. Manual 
training work would consist of the making of farmers' imple- 
ments of all kinds, the building of a toy fence, the pickets 



98 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

being made of cardboard and the cross-pieces being glued to 
the upright sticks. The drawing would be of children posing 
in attitudes indicative of the work of the farmer. Number 
work could be associated with life on the farm. Finally, 
stories for oral reproduction, besides much of the reading work, 
would center around this idea, and would always be interesting 
because of the presence of these objects in the room. 

Second Year — "Animal Land." The pictures here might 
be of animals of all kinds, some stuffed specimens even being 
procured for permanent or for temporary exhibition. Here 
again the stories should center around the unit-idea which 
dominates all the work of the grade. 

Other suggestions would be as follows: 

Second Year — "Fairy Land." The central figure of the 
decorations might be a fairy queen with wand in her hand. 

Third Year — Hiawatha, Dutch Room, Japanese Room. 

Fourth Year — Peter Stuyvesant Room, Old New York, 
"Peter Pan" Room, Washington Irving. 

Fijth Year — Old Spain, Old World Heroes, Ruskin Room, 
Colonial Room. 

Sixth Year — The Minute Men, The Henry Clay Room, 
Nathan Hale Room, The Patrick Henry Room. 

Seventh Year — Longfellow Room, Hawthorne Room, Merry 
England. 

Eighth Year — Shakespeare Room. 

In addition to these suggestions, it will, of course, be seen 
that it is possible from the fifth year upwards to name a room 
after some American or English author, to have the pictures 
deal with that author or his works, to have the stories alto- 
gether from the writer in question, and thus, by a regular 
graded course, to have the children become acquainted, as 
they pass onward through the school, with the life and the 
works of many representative authors. 

This general preparation might be supplemented by much 



ORAL REPRODUCTION OF STORIES 99 

additional material particularly appropriate to the stories taken 
up in connection with this kind of work. The pictures dealing 
with incidents of the story, or with places directly or indirectly 
concerned with its content, may be collected by the teacher and 
shown to the class at the right time. Pupils may form scrap 
books containing appropriate pictures. In fact, any clever 
teacher will work out devices of many kinds which will lend 
interest to this kind of work, and make the words of the story 
stand for realities in the minds of the children. 

When the teacher has prepared the general atmosphere, so 
to speak, of the room, and has selected her stories in a xordance 
with the name of the room, she is ready to proceed with the 
actual work. The story itself must be interesting, must move 
definitely and steadily to a climax. If possible, it should be 
a story that carries with it definite ethical content, or his- 
torical or literary value. It is a matter of very little impor- 
tance what the original form of the story may be which the 
teacher is about to use. It is not necessary that the printed 
story in amplified form should ever be given to the children. 

In preparing her work, the teacher should plan first to tell 
the story in such a way as she would, were she to require only 
the ordinary reproduction. Her presentation should be ani- 
mated and vivid, and should be made interesting by the intro- 
duction of many details and much illustrative material. Bright 
children may be called upon to reproduce the story in a general 
way. The teacher may devote two or three lessons to this 
work, until she feels assured that the general outline has been 
fairly well fixed. In the higher grades, she may, with the aid 
of the pupils, develop a topical outline showing the sequence 
and the relative importance of the incidents of the story. This 
outline may be copied by the children in their note-books and 
there kept for future reference. 

The next step in the preparation of the teacher should be 
the division of the story into unit parts. These may be of 



lOO THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

various types. First, the unit may be a description of some 
person or of some place mentioned in the story. Secondly, 
it may be some single episode, or a part of an episode, of suffi- 
cient importance in the general narrative to warrant its being 
made the subject of detailed treatment. 

It would be well for the teacher, in beginning this work, to 
write out in her plan book in very brief and simple form, the 
description or the incident which is to be the basis for later 
expansion by the children. From this brief, written statement, 
she should select a half dozen or more words or phrases or ideas 
to be developed. 

The introduction to the j&rst lesson in the real reproduction 
may consist of an explanation of the work that the class is 
to do. Even in the lower grades, this explanation could be 
made so that the children will understand the aim of the exer- 
cise. The teacher should explain that the idea of the story is, 
of course, not the children's own. The story was written by 
some great man or woman, and represents that writer's idea 
of the way the story should be told. The language, however, 
which that writer has used, is perhaps too difficult for the 
children to understand. "At all events, it is much better to 
make up your own words for the story, to tell it in your own 
way, so that when you have finished, you will feel that when 
you now tell the story, while the idea may not be yours, you may 
really call it your own since most of the language in it you have 
made up yourself. No boy would Uke to tell a story in just 
the same words that this great writer did, because if he did, 
the story would not be his own. In the same way, every boy 
in the class should try to tell the story in a way that wiU be 
different from that used by any other boy. When we are 
through with the story," the teacher may continue, "I hope 
that while in some parts a number of the boys in the class will 
tell the story in the same way, still in most portions each boy 
will tell it in his own way, and use his own words." In some 



ORAL REPRODUCTION OF STORIES loi 

such manner as this, the teacher may emphasize the point that 
the central aim of the work should be originality in finding ways 
of telling the story. With an introduction of this kind, made 
in a sympathetic way by the teacher, she is ready to proceed. 

A few questions will recall to the class the opening incident 
of the story. This should be reduced finally to perhaps half 
a dozen sentences. The teacher then directs attention to 
the first of the words or phrases already selected as the basis 
for expansion and variation by the children. Let us suppose 
that the phrase is "Once upon a time"; the teacher says, 
"Now what boy can begin the story so as to give me the idea 
'Once upon a time,' and yet not use these words? " The bright- 
est of the class will at once respond. In a very short time, 
there will be half a dozen or more variations. The teacher 
should particularly encourage those who, in giving their equiva- 
lent expression, expand the idea by giving the event, for example, 
a definite location in time. This particular phrase, for example, 
happened to be the first element for expansion chosen by the 
teacher in telling the story of WilHam Tell, and one of the 
variations given by a boy in the class was, "Years and years 
ago, before there were any coimtries in Europe as there are 
to-day, before gunpowder was used, and when guns were im- 
known," etc. This was in the first half of the fifth year. 

The teacher may then write on the board in colored chalk 
the phrase as it is in the original story. She should sympa- 
thetically encourage children to give their own statements 
and should quietly and yet firmly insist upon correct English 
and clear enunciation. Commendation should be frequent, and 
particularly good equivalent expressions may be written on 
the board in white chalk, imder the phrase of which they are 
the equivalents. In a few minutes, a dozen or so of these 
phrases will be secured from the class. 

The teacher may then pass on to the next phrase or idea 
selected for variation, making the transition from the first by 



I02 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

questioning the class as to the story, or rather the parts of the 
story which connect the first with the second. Following a 
method like that already described, variant expressions of the 
second may then be secured. These are once more written on 
the board, the connecting parts between the second and third 
phrases selected by the teacher are brought out by questioning, 
and so part of the story set apart for the first day is taken 
up. The teacher may then explain to the class that now they 
are ready to tell the first part, but that they should select from 
the different ways of expressing an idea that particular one 
which they like best. Sometimes this will be one that they 
themselves have given. Frequently, they will merely be 
adopting a form given by one of the other children, and the 
teacher may further suggest that they are allowed to find out 
for themselves still other ways of expressing the idea, and are 
to use these in their telling of the story. 

Every boy should be provided with a blank book in which 
he will write the expressions he intends to use in telling 
the story. He may be reminded that if at any later time he 
wishes to substitute for an expression that he has previously 
used, some other which he now thinks better, he may do so. 
A lesson of this kind should be followed immediately by the 
spelling lesson of the day and the words taken up should be 
words selected from the expressions given by the teacher, such 
words as would present difl&culties in spelling when the children 
come to write out the story. 

Sheets of oak-tag may then be prepared by the teacher on 
which will be written the original expression from the story, 
together with a half-dozen of the best equivalents given by the 
children. It will be suf&cient reward for any boy, and suf- 
ficient impetus in this kind of work, to have his own words 
selected by the teacher to be placed before the class as a model. 

In addition to the expressions given by the children, the 
teacher may carefully, although in the beginning not too 



ORAL REPRODUCTION OF STORIES 103 

frequently, give expressions of her own using words that she 
may wish to add to the vocabulary of the children. All these 
should be carefully thought out in advance. 

Two or three lessons a week are all that need be given to 
this kind of work. No period need last more than twenty-five 
or thirty minutes, and each should begin, with a review of the 
incidents already covered. At the first two or three reviews, 
the charts prepared by the teacher, containing the Hsts of 
equivalent expressions given by the children, may be on 
view before the class. Later it will be found that the use 
of these expressions has become familiar to the children, 
and that they will no longer need the suggestion of the 
teacher's list. At all times, however, they are to be allowed 
to have before them their note-books containing the selections 
from the Hsts which they intend to employ in their own 
rendition of the story. 

When the teacher has reached perhaps the fifth period of 
oral reproduction, the first attempt to write may be made. 
The first written lesson should cover only the first incident of 
the story. It may be preceded by a telling of that incident 
rapidly by a number of the brightest children. When the 
actual writing begins, the teacher should move rapidly and 
quietly around the room, continually on the lookout for errors, 
and ever ready with suggestions. Pupils may have, besides 
the paper on which the story itself is to be written, a smaller 
piece of paper, and may be directed by the teacher not to 
write any word regarding the spelling of which they are un- 
certain. When they come to such a word in the course of their 
story, they should attract the attention of the teacher and ask 
for the spelling. While at times the teacher may ask the 
children to spell the word for themselves, or may ask some 
other pupil to help, it will most frequently be found best to 
write the word directly for the children on the extra piece oenc 
paper, and to have them copy the form in their sto^' 



I04 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

This method may be apphed not only to spelling, but to punc- 
tuation, and even to the choice and arrangement of words. 
It will readily be seen that the desire to write the story in 
correct form will supply a motive to the children for the study 
of rules of punctuation, such as the use of the quotation marks, 
etc. All such work should carefully be correlated by the 
teacher with this work in oral reproduction. When the idea 
of the written work is once thoroughly grasped by the children, 
it will be found that in a single written lesson they can cover 
two or three incidents. In this way the written work will soon 
catch up with the oral. 

It must, however, be remembered that it would be impossible 
to cover the work if at every succeeding lesson the children 
were to write the story from the very beginning. It might, 
therefore, be advisable to keep the written work of the children 
in envelopes, one envelope being set aside for each child. The 
product of each written lesson could be placed in the children's 
envelopes so that as the work proceeds, they will gradually sup- 
ply themselves with separate sheets which when put together 
will form the complete story. A study period may be devoted 
to writing the story as a unit, or this exercise may be assigned 
to the children for home work. 

In addition to the four forms of the work already described, 
namely, giving the varying expressions, combining the vary- 
ing expressions in a connected account, reviewing the selected 
expressions at the beginning of each new lesson, and writing 
the story itself, all devices ordinarily used by the teacher 
in regular reading work should be employed. Of these, two 
forms of dramatization will be found to be effective. In the 
first form, a child may be selected to stand at the front of the 
room and to tell the story. Others, previously picked out 
and assigned to take different parts in the story, come for- 
' ' ard as their cues are given to them by the narrator in the 
teiUx y q£ |.]^g story, and in pantomime go through the actions 



ORAL REPRODUCTION OF STORIES 105 

called for by their part of the story. In the second form of 
dramatization, the narrator gives all the descriptive parts, the 
children following in pantomime; but when any part of the 
story is reached which calls for dialogue, the narrator stops 
and the dialogue is taken up in the direct form by the actors 
themselves. To sustain interest and to inspire the brighter 
hildren to put forth their best efforts, the teacher may an- 
lOimce that when any story has been finished, a child will be 
elected to go to some other class and tell the story, while a 
child from that class will later entertain. Or a pupil may be 
selected to stand before the assembly and tell the story learned 
in the class-room. This incentive of a changed or a larger 
audience will be all that is necessary to call forth the best work. 
It is necessary to give a word of caution to the teacher. 
When once the children understand the idea of the method, the 
brighter ones will become wildly enthusiastic in giving expres- 
sions and in volunteering to tell the story. It should be the 
aim of the teacher not only to develop the powers of the brighter 
children, but also to lead out the more reticent ones, and those 
whose vocabulary is more limited or whose intelligence is less 
quick. In other words, the teacher should take care that while 
a high degree of excellence is reached by the brighter pupils 
of the class, the slower ones will not be neglected. In brief, 
it should be the aim of the teacher continually to keep in mind 
that the story when told is given not by the entire class but 
by individuals of the class. She should, therefore, constantly 
aim to reach the individual. 

It may be objected that the children are really committing 
to memory a set form of the story. To a certain extent this 
is true. But it must be remembered that the expressions 
which they do commit to memory are either their own or those 
which they have voluntarily selected from a large list, and, 
therefore, such as represent their judgment and intelligent 
choice. 



io6 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

Good style and a large vocabulary cannot be secured merely 
by emphasis upon the impressive side of teaching. This method 
gives a motive for the extension of one's vocabulary, makes 
desirable the committing to memory of excellent words and 
phrases, and furthermore, furnishes an interesting and vital 
form of expression to the children. At the beginning, the work 
is slow and tends to discouragement; but at the end of one 
term, a class enters upon its new work with a sure knowledge 
of what is expected. In such cases, provided the enthusiasm 
of the teacher does not abate, the results are so astounding as 
to make it almost impossible to believe that children have com- 
posed the sort of story one frequently hears in the course of 
a regular lesson. It will be found that in the higher grades, 
children frequently consult the dictionary in order to find 
better equivalent expressions. Phrases and whole sentences 
are adapted from memory gems or from reading lessons, and 
are fitted into the story which the children are studying. In 
short, the method provides an interesting and effective way of 
giving children a better command over the language. 

An adaptation of this method consists in a difference in the 
method of originally presenting the story. In this variation, 
instead of having a story told by the teacher and reproduced 
by the children in general form, the teacher supplies herself 
with a number of pictures forming a connected sequence, and 
each depicting an important incident of the story. A picture 
is given to the children and they are called upon to describe 
it or to tell the story in their own language. This original 
account forms the basis of the later variations by the children, 
thus taking the place of the telling of the story by the teacher. 
There are two drawbacks to this method: In the first place, 
the children require earlier training in the telling of stories 
from pictures. In the second place, it is difl&cult to get a 
sufficiently large number of pictures of the right kind. 

Finally it will be noted that in this method of story telling. 



ORAL REPRODUCTION OF STORIES 107 

there is a combination of the element of narration, description, 
and exposition. This combination is rarely found in the 
formal composition work of the elementary schools, and yet 
it is characteristic of any good original work such as the chil- 
dren may be called upon to do in life. It, therefore, acquires 
a new value as being more spontaneous and more nearly ex- 
pressive of actual conditions in composition writing. 

Summary. — The aims of the work with stories are (i) to add to 
the child's general culture; (2) to enrich a valuable ethical idea 
with an attractive story; (3) to give exercise in the use of accurate 
English; (4) to increase the vocabulary; (5) to illustrate principles 
of narrative composition; (6) to lend variety to school work. The 
story should be selected with these ideas ia mind: (i) The narra- 
tive element should predominate. (2) Phases of child life should 
be represented. (3) The story must be well constructed. (4) It 
should admit of easy division into units. (5) It should have ethical, 
artistic, or Kterary value. (6) It should be simple. (7) It should ad- 
mit of expansion through richness of detaU. In each grade the stories 
selected for oral reproduction should center about some unit. Wher- 
ever possible, the other work of the grade should lead up to or grow 
out of this central idea. Illustrative material of many kinds should 
be freely employed. After a vivid presentation of the story by the 
teacher, the sequence of episodes should be fixed in the minds of 
the pupUs. Taking the first episode or unit for the opening lesson, the 
teacher after explaining the aim of the exercise should caU for ampli- 
fications and variations. The best of these shoiold be used by the 
pupils and later preserved in notebooks. Many equivalent expres- 
sions should be presented to the class, thus permitting free choice. 
Constant repetition in the succeeding lessons should fix the story in 
mind. This work should be combined with written composition, 
speUing, and exercises in the technique of written and oral English. 
Dramatization of the stories shovdd be frequently employed. An 
adaptation of the method substitutes for the telling of the story by 
the teacher the presentation of sequential pictures portraying lead- 
ing incidents of the narrative. 



CHAPTER XI 
MEMORY GEMS 

In a superficial way, it may be said that memory depends 
upon the depth of the original impression, upon thoughtful 
repetition, and upon the number of associations formed in the 
mind. From the teacher's point of view, the important thing 
is not so much that the child shall remember a poem or a prose 
quotation of accepted merit, as it is that this quotation shall 
become so interwoven with his thinking that its recall will be 
quick and ready, and that it will rise spontaneously into con- 
sciousness imder widely varying conditions. 

For example, if we are teaching a poem like Longfellow's 
"The Light of Stars," and our aim is to make vivid to the 
child the lesson of determination and strong endeavor, we 
must aim to make such an impression that the child, perhaps 
under the stress of some crisis in his Hfe, may bring to the 
support of a wavering determination the lesson and the inspira- 
tion of the poem. For the teacher, it is of worse than no value 
if the child passes through the crisis, and at some later period, 
chides himself with the knowledge that had he but recalled 
the lesson of the poem at the right moment, he might have 
acquitted himself more creditably. It is of Httle value merely 
to know a thing. The world rewards those who know the 
right thing at the right time. And memory, therefore, is of 
value not only in that it stores the mind with a valuable con- 
tent, but chiefly in that the knowledge is so organized as to 
deliver up that content ready for use at the sHghtest need. 

The extent to which a new state of consciousness becomes 
interrelated with existent states, and forms associations 



MEMORY GEMS 109 

which provide avenues of easy recall, is determined by the 
extent to which the entire interest, or, in other words, the 
entire available self-activity was absorbed in the act of learn- 
ing. The child who repeats parrot-fashion a collection of 
words meant to convey a geographical or an historical state- 
ment, while his mind is really keenly active with other and 
more interesting things, may be able to recall the words of the 
sentence as a memory of the concatenation of certain sounds. 
When the freshness of this sense-impression disappears, all 
trace of the fact is gone from consciousness. This is the char- 
acteristic of much of the memorizing done while cramming 
for examinations. If, on the other hand, the effort to remember 
is lost in the effort to understand, because the individual feels 
vital interest in that which is presented to him, then while it 
may be true that mere repetition will be necessary for fixation, 
the more important results of memory will really have been 
achieved; namely, increase in the number of vital associations 
formed, and ease of recall. 

The problem, therefore, of leading children to memorize 
poems or prose quotations which will become a part of their 
life's cultural equipment, may be considered as resolving itself 
into a certain number of preliminary and fundamental prob- 
lems. First, the teacher must see to it that the general tone 
of the selection to be memorized shall be in keeping with the 
stage of mental development that the child has attained at 
the period in which it is aimed to have the memorizing done. 
The teacher wishes to be assured that the entire activity of the 
children will be employed in the act of learning. This will 
not result unless the entire interest of the child is absorbed by 
the subject matter presented to its consciousness. 

Theoretically, it may be fine to ask children to commit 
to memory maxims and Biblical quotations and poems and 
prose moralizations which, in the sure knowledge of the teacher, 
will be of incalculable value to the child in later life. It is 



no THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

beautiful theory for the teacher to say that every adult should 
have, as part of his cultural equipment, the power to quote 
from a number of classic writings, perfect in form or elevated 
in content. We are told that since youth is the time of plas- 
ticity, the teacher should have the children learn these things 
ill school; for if it is not done in that period, no opportunity 
will be given for such a learning in later life. 

It cannot be doubted that in the elementary school period 
of a child's life, this memorizing is effected with less expendi- 
ture of energy than would be required at a much later period. 
But of equal importance with the mere impression on the mind 
is the power to recall, imder varying conditions. Recall de- 
pends upon associations; and associations are many or few, 
depending upon the number of times the individual thinks 
over the content of consciousness, turns it over in his mind, 
views it from different points, and regards it under various 
aspects of his continually widening experience. There can be 
none of this vital thinking unless that which is presented to 
the mind of the child is vital at the time of presentation. Nor 
can it in any conceivable way be vital unless it is capable of 
immediate imderstanding. 

We cannot expect children to have a vivid memory imless 
vivid interest is present in the act of learning. We cannot 
teach, that is, teach in the right way, abstract and abstruse 
memorizings to a child of ten. True, these things are some- 
times held in mind by the mere force of their sensuous associa- 
tions, and at a much later period they are regarded in their 
fuller and deeper thought implications. But during the time 
that elapses between the mere form of memorizing and the 
real comprehension of their inner meaning, they have been a 
dormant product in consciousness. 

We do not intend to imply by this that the child shall learn 
nothing but childish things. The dominant characteristic of 
a classic is its universal applicabihty. It knows neither time 



MEMORY GEMS III 

nor place, age nor clime. It is perennially young and yet incal- 
culably old. Only the best should be given to the child; not 
the best from the adult point of view only, but that which will 
seem best to the child and yet to the deeper vision of the teacher 
carry with it possibilities that will become evident to the child 
only as his experience broadens. 

The teacher, therefore, should select for memorizing those 
things which have a vital interest to the child at the time of 
presentation. They should be suited to the comprehension of 
the class. They should be an expression of emotions which 
may rightly be conceived as lying within the child, struggling 
for adequate utterance. On the other hand, the selection 
should be such that as the thinking of the child increases in 
complexity, deeper and higher meanings will become attached 
to thoughts which to the child were merely thoughts of the 
child. And finally, the form of everything that is memorized 
should be classic. 

As an illustration of this point, we may take the teaching 
of Longfellow's "Excelsior." The poem has a message full 
of meaning to the boy of twelve. It should be presented so 
as to emphasize the spirit of heroic endeavor, of determination, 
of disregard of personal danger. The pictures should be de- 
veloped in detail. The element of the heroic should be empha- 
sized. Treated in this way the poem is sure to make a strong 
impression. At a later period in life, the symbolism of the old 
man and the maiden may, in fact must, make itself felt 
to the developing mind as it dwells more closely upon the 
thought of the poem. But that which constituted the aim of 
the teaching at the moment of presentation was not the deeper 
meaning of the poem as it was evident to the teacher from the 
beginning, and as the teacher hoped it would someday be evident 
to the child; the aim was or should have been that aspect of 
the poem which appeals most strongly to the child whose task 
it is to memorize. 



112 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

Secondly — Memorizing is not a general power. It is a 
specific act, and as such it depends upon specific conditions. 
For example, Bryant's "The Gladness of Nature" may be a 
poem suited to the child of the fifth year; but it would be mani- 
festly ridiculous to expect a child to bend himself with energy 
and pleasure to the learning of that poem on some dreary day 
in November when the skies are gray and the sharp sleet is 
rattling against the window panes, and the dullness of life 
seems to cover everything. There must be some harmony 
between external conditions and the content. Sometimes, 
as with a nature poem, this may be secured by selecting the 
poem in consonance with the season, the weather, etc. The 
first snow-storm of the year, for example, in a higher grade 
may call for the abandonment of the regular plan of work, 
and in the sixth year, Lowell's "First Snowfall" may be memo- 
rized by the children. "The Planting of the Appletree," while 
set for the second half of the fifth year, for instance, in the New 
York course of study, may be taken up only in the spring term 
so that some classes will learn it in the first half of the fifth 
year and others in the second half. Poems which deal with 
historical events may be taken up when those events are being 
treated in the history lessons with all the vividness and detail 
that will make them vital and interesting to the children. 
Lowell's poem, "Aladdin," should be taken up not as a separate 
lesson but only in connection with the story of some man who 
achieved greatness from humble beginnings, some great poet, 
or thinker, or philanthropist. The center of the work should 
be a story specially adapted to the purpose and the poem may 
be memorized to fix an idea already illustrated in the life of the 
man considered. In other words, it should represent to the 
children a great poet's way of expressing ideas which have been 
aroused in their minds by a consideration of an interesting life. 

Thirdly — It must be remembered that besides these two 
factors of general suitability to the comprehension of the chil- 



MEMORY GEMS 113 

dren, and of particular adaptation or correlation between the 
content and the environment, either mental or physical, of 
the child at the time of learning, it is necessary to form sensuous 
associations. That is to say, remembering is not merely under- 
standing. It is also knowing the words, and being able to repeat 
them exactly as the author wrote them. This need carries 
with it the necessity of constant repetition and drill. It is 
the task of the teacher in this connection to make this repetition 
and drill interesting to the children; that is to say, to supply 
a motive which will be strong enough to carry the children in 
a pleasurable state through the work of drudgery. Sugges- 
tions as to how this can be done may be gleaned from the lessons 
which follow. Some important considerations must be noted. 

First — Experiments in the psychological laboratories prove 
conclusively that a stanza or a poem is better remembered when 
it is repeated as a whole than when successive phrases or parts 
are isolated, repeated until they become fixed, and then joined 
to preceding and succeeding parts. 

Secondly — It must be borne in mind that the principle of 
multiple-sense teaching is of paramoimt importance in this 
connection. The children must hear, must see, must visualize, 
and constantly must reproduce if they are to be expected to 
remember. 

Thirdly — It must be borne in mind that unused knowledge 
soon ceases to be real knowledge. Provision should, therefore, 
be made in the work of the grades to have constant review of 
those poems and prose selections which the children have 
memorized in the lower classes. 

The real teaching of the memory gem, that is to say, the 
memorizing by the children, is to be done in the class-room 
under the direction of the teacher. Whatever assignment 
of work there may be for home-study should be of a 
content already gone over in school. How such an exercise 
may be conducted will be made clearer by considering the 



114 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

treatment in a fifth or sixth year class of the first stanza of 
Longfellow's "The Village Blacksmith." 

Interest always lends itself to a biographical note connected 
with the writing of the poem. The following comment is pre- 
fixed to the poem in the Standard Edition of his works: 

In the autumn of 1839 Mr. Longfellow was writing psalms, and he 
notes in his diary, October 5th, "Wrote a new Psalm of Life. It is 
The Village Blacksmith.'" A year later he was thinking of ballads, 
and he writes to his father, October 25th, "My pen has not been 
very proUfic of late; only a little poetry has trickled from it. There 
wUl be a kind of ballad on a Blacksmith in the next Knickerbocker 
(November, 1840), which you may consider, if you please, as a song 
in praise of your ancestor at Newbury (the first Stephen Long- 
fellow)." It is hardly to be supposed, however, that the form of the 
poem had been changed during the year. The suggestion of the 
poem came from the smithy which the poet passed daily, and which 
stood beneath a horse-chestnut tree not far from his house in Cam- 
bridge. The tree was removed in 1876, against the protests of Mr. 
Longfellow and others, on the ground that it imperiled drivers of 
heavy loads who passed under it. 

Unless the class is interested in the subject of the poem, 
memorizing becomes drudgery. We commit to memory those 
things that appeal strongly to us. We wish to make them 
part of ourselves. If the children are to go about this work 
with enthusiasm, they must be placed completely in sympathy 
with the subject. Show pictures of the smithy, explaining 
the word. Explain also that the smith is the "smiter," the 
man who strikes. Let the class describe a blacksmith shop and 
tell all they can about how horseshoes are made. Let them 
understand also that a village smith must do more than merely 
make horseshoeg. The class must see that the smith is a strong 
man, made so by the work he does. 

When the atmosphere has been created, the teacher may 
read the entire poem, without extended comment. Then the 



MEMORY GEMS 115 

first stanza may be read again, after the teacher has called for 
judgment on the worth and meaning of the poem. 

Memorizing is easier when a large unit is repeated than when 
single hues or phrases are droned out ceaselessly. Call on the 
best readers to try to give full expression. In every case the 
entire stanza should be repeated, though the specific direction 
to each pupil may refer only to a single word. Thus: 

" Show by your reading that it is a spreading chestnut- tree. Let 
your voice spread as you read the word." "Show by your inflec- 
tion that mighty means very strong; emphasize it, hardening your 
lips as you pronounce the first letter." "Now read the stanza, mak- 
ing the word large sound 'large.' " "What does brawny mean? What 
sort of man would have brawny arms? Read the stanza so that your 
tone when you say brawny shall give the idea of strength." So also 
with strong and iron. 

Pupils should, of course, be called upon to combine several 
of these directions in one reading. There should be a motive 
for each repetition so as to secure concentrated attention. 
Encourage the reader to visualize a group of words at a glance 
so that he often looks up from the page. 

To secure still further repetition the teacher may ask ques- 
tions based on the text requiring the pupil to answer in the 
words of the poem. Thus: 

"Where does the village smithy stand?" "What sort of man 
is the smith?" "Are there many smiths in the village?" 
(Only one — "The village smithy stands.") "How do his hands 
look?" "How strong are his muscles?" "What are as strong as 
iron bands?" ("The muscles of his brawny arms.") "Pick out 
the words that rhyme." "Write them on the board as they would 
appear if the poem were written in full." "Who will recite the first 
line?" "The second?" "The first two?" 

In this way the brighter children may be called upon to 
recite until some child is able to go through the stanza. The 



Ii6 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

class may then be required to read the stanza once or twice 
from the book. Finally the books may be closed and the class 
may recite the six Hnes in concert. 

It should be remembered that for the slower children this 
class work should be supplemented by further study at home. 
Constant review will be necessary to secure permanent fixation. 
Occasionally the pupils may be required to write a stanza from 
memory. 

In studying prose selections, it may be found helpful to have 
pupils select the "proposition" of a long sentence as the skeleton 
on which to hang the rest. In a general way the same method 
may be employed as that just outlined. The point to remem- 
ber is that the unit should be as large as the pupils can carry; 
the repetitions should be frequent; and for each there must 
be a motive which will insure close attention by the class. 

Let us suppose that we are taking that part of the second 
paragraph of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address: 

But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, 
we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, 
who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add 
or to detract. The world wUl very little note nor long remember 
what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. 

The teacher should make clear, either by direct telling or 
by question and answer, that the point of the selection is the 
fact that this holy ground has been made sacred not by the 
dedication of the cemetery, but by the deeds of the men who 
fought. The first sentence shows the speaker's feeling that 
those who are assembled cannot consecrate the ground. The 
second sentence gives the honor where honor is due. The 
third combines the two ideas by showing how fleeting will be 
the record of what is said and how permanent the memory of 
what has been done. It may be necessary to have a very care- 
ful explanation of this sequence of thought, so that the develop- 



MEMORY GEMS 117 

ment of the idea may become part of the children's thinking. 
There then should be a study of the words so that the children 
may come to an adequate understanding of the meaning of 
the speaker. 

What new thought is there in the word "consecrate"; in the 
word "hallow"? Why would not one of these words have ex- 
pressed the idea? Why does Lincoln speak of "the brave men, 
hving and dead " ? Why does he in the last sentence refer to 
what the world will "note" and not to what it wUl remember? 
What is the difference between the two ideas? Why, in the first 
sentence, does Lincoln say "in a larger sense" ? Li what smaller 
sense can those who assembled have been said to dedicate the 
ground? Have members of the class read the first sentence, 
throwing the emphasis upon the three verbs in succession. Have 
another reading, throwing the emphasis upon the pronouns. 
Have a third reading, emphasizing as is here indicated, "But in a 
larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot 
hallow this ground." Constant repetition of these readings will 
fix the sentence. Have repeated readings of the second sentence 
until pupils are able to bring out the contrast between the "brave 
men" on one side, and "our" on the other. In the same way, 
repeated readings by pupils should contrast the "world" and "what 
we say here" on the one hand, with "they" and "did here" on 
the other. 

In short, by analyzing the thought, establishing the sequence 
of ideas, calling attention to the value of the words, and then 
securing repetition through an attempt to give proper oral 
rendering of the thought, the teacher secures concentrated 
attention upon the form and so fixes the selection in the 
minds of the pupils. 

Summary. — Proper memorizing of a selection calls for perma- 
nent fixation and ready recall. To realize these aims, the selection 
should be adapted to the understanding of the children; it should 
appeal to their interests; it should reveal its deeper meaning as the 



ii8 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

experience of the children broadens and deepens; it should be classic 
in form. The presentation should be made under conditions fitting 
the general tone of the selection. The necessary repetition should 
be made interesting by varied devices; it should always result in 
concentration upon the form. It should respond to a definite aim 
set before the pupils. Memorizing should be done by wholes, not 
by a synthesis of parts. A multiple-sense appeal should be made. 
Frequent expression should fix the impression. 



CHAPTER XII 
SPELLING 

The teacher should become acquainted with some clear 
psychological analysis of the processes involved in spelling. 
A book like Judd's "Genetic Psychology," or Huey's "Psy- 
chology and Pedagogy of Reading," or Bain's "Education as 
a Science," will be sufficient for the ordinary teacher. In the 
present discussion of the subject, however, our aim is to give 
practical suggestions for use in the class-room, and not to enter 
upon an abstract discussion of processes. 

The need for spelling arises when the children have reached 
the stage of original composition. It may be well to state, 
at the beginning, as a fundamental principle, that since the 
knowledge of how a word is spelled is of value to the child only 
in written composition, no word should be taught for spelling 
unless its meaning also is taught, and imless it is a word which 
should form a part of the ordinary working vocabulary of the 
child. This excepts words studied in connection with the 
work in phonics. The problem, therefore, of meaning and use, 
as separated from the problem of spelling, ceases to exist. 
Some words, it is true, should be explained, the spelHng of 
which will not be taught; but excepting phonic words, in no 
case should the spelling be taught unless the meaning is 
thoroughly understood. 

The words for the spelling lesson should be chosen: — 

I. From a reading lesson already taken up in the class room. 
The words are such as have been selected by the pupils or teacher 
as presenting difficulties. Either they are already a part of 
the vocabulary of the child, but present some anomaly in 



I20 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

form, or they are words not yet a part of the vocabulary of the 
child but probably needed in order to give him freer expression. 

2. From a story told by the teacher to the class, and intended 
for oral or written reproduction by the pupils. 

3. From the content of other subjects of the course. 

4. From conversation lessons intended as preparation for 
the writing of a composition. 

The lesson should be given three or four times a week, and 
should be about twenty minutes in duration. One lesson 
each week should be devoted entirely to drill, and at each of 
the others, the nimiber of words taught should be Hmited to 
four, five, six, or seven, depending upon the grade. Except 
in rare cases of simple words, it will be foimd that more than 
seven cannot successfully be taught as new words in any period. 
There should be constant review in each grade of the spelling 
lists of the preceding grades. 

As preparation for the spelKng lesson, each word should be 
written on a perception card, perhaps twelve inches by three 
or four, and there should be ready a frame large enough to 
contain half a dozen of these cards placed one underneath the 
other. After the actual presentation, the card should be 
fastened on the frame, which may be hung on the wall in some 
conspicuous place, remaining there until the next spelling 
lesson. 

The proper use of the perception card will secure quick visu- 
aUzation, and will serve to impress the correct form on the 
mind of the child. With the cards continually in view before 
the children, the teacher should in the course of other lessons 
make frequent use of the words appearing on the cards. By 
a cursory glance toward the frame, she will direct the attention 
of the children to the fact that one of the spelhng words has 
been used, and she will, therefore, make the meaning and use 
of the word a famiUar matter to the child during the period 
elapsing between the presentation and the review of the spell- 



SPELLING 121 

ing words. Care should be taken that the cards be written 
neatly, and that the word be easily read from the farthest part 
of the room. 

In the choice of words, there should be a graded progression. 
Difi&cult words should not be selected in any grade for the 
spelling Kst until the term has progressed. Finally, care should 
be taken wherever possible, to have the words that are taken 
up in any spelling lesson, (not phonic) center around some 
one topic, and therefore form a unit. The fundamental 
principles in the teaching of spelling are the following: 

First — UtiHze the different sensory avenues of appeal. 

Second — Have sufficient drill to fix. 

Third — Have many devices for interest. 

Fourth — Have immediate application. 

Fifth — Do not study words already known. 

The first of these needs no long defense. Any of the books 
to which reference has already been made, will make clear the 
need of these modes of approach. (2) When spelling has been 
perfectly taught, the habit of correct spelling becomes a mar- 
ginal process. That is to say, while the expressing self will 
become conscious of any error in the form of a word if it has 
once been written, the focus of consciousness should not be 
occupied during actual written composition with the form of 
the word and the correct mode of spelling it. It is, however, 
a fundamental law that if a process is to be made marginal, it 
must first be focalized. Therefore, the teacher must remember 
that, while the approach to spelling will be a matter of develop- 
ment, the teaching of spelling is primarily a matter of drill. 
(3) The drill, however, will necessarily develop a sameness 
unless the teacher is perpetually on the lookout for varying 
devices. It is impossible to give an exhaustive account of what 
such devices should be. Any ingenious teacher can create 
more during the course of a lesson, with the inspiration of the 
class before her, than could be developed in a half-dozen pages 



122 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

of this text. The devices should be such as to fix attention, not 
upon themselves as interesting games, but upon the form of 
the word which it is the aim of the teacher more firmly to fix 
upon the mind of the child. (4) The learning of spelling has 
too frequently been taken to be merely a matter of impression. 
As a matter of fact, however, the spelling of la word has not 
been learned until the child has spelled that word correctly 
when using it in a context which absorbs the major part of his 
attention. The aim of the teacher, therefore, in the lesson 
should be to give adequate opportunity to the children to 
apply their memorization of the form. (5) By testing the 
class the teacher may readily determine whether a word needs 
careful drill. A large part of a spelling list will be foimd to 
consist of words which the pupils spell by analogy. 

One of the reasons why the spelling in our schools has been 
unsatisfactory is that the children do not form proper aural 
images of the words. It is important that the teacher develop 
in the children a habit of clear, distinct, and even exaggerated 
enunciation, not only during the spelling lesson but during all 
lessons, where it is possible without detracting from expres- 
sion or distracting the attention. The teacher herself should 
so enunciate the words that the children shall really hear what 
they are called upon to spell. 

. Let us suppose that the teacher has a number of words 
selected from some context or subject previously taken up in 
the class and in a general way explained. It is her aim to 
proceed with the teaching of the spelHng of these words. The 
following plan is suggested: No other spelHng words should 
be before the class during this lesson. Perception card frames, 
containing words previously taught, may remain hanging if 
not in conspicuous places; otherwise, they should be tempo- 
rarily removed. The blackboards should be perfectly clean. 
The teacher may then begin by talking of the subject matter 
of the lesson from which the words have been drawn. When 



SPELLING 123 

she comes to that part of her review in which the use of the 
first word is made necessary, instead of uttering the word, she 
takes the card, and leaving her sentence incomplete, shows 
the card to the class. It should not be left in sight for too long 
a time. Practice will give the teacher an idea of the minimum 
time the card should be exposed so as to make visualization 
possible. It has been demonstrated that the form is better 
remembered if, within limits, the time given to the individual 
to study that form is limited. This may be because the mind 
is compelled when the card has been removed to reconstruct 
the image of the word, and, therefore, make a clearer percept. 

A boy is called upon to tell the word. He pronounces it 
clearly, and if he is wrong, the teacher gives the correct model 
immediately. The word is then repeated by a nimiber of 
other children. A good speller may then be called upon to 
spell the word, pronouncing it before and after the spelling; 
or one or more good spellers may be sent to the boards to write 
the word. The teacher should stand ready, eraser in hand, 
to rub from the blackboard any word incorrectly spelled. The 
entire word should be erased. In fact, at any time in this 
exercise that a word is incorrectly spelled, or any other 
error is made, the entire word should be erased, the card shown 
again to the pupil, this time for a longer period, and the 
pupil should be called upon once more to write the word. 
Except in the case of an abnormally poor speller, this should 
be kept up until he writes the word correctly. A number of 
pupils may then be called upon to spell the word orally, some- 
times looking at the board, sometimes with their eyes shut, 
sometimes with their backs turned to the blackboard. 

The teacher may then repeat the word slowly and distuictly, 
pausing significantly for the purpose of showing the class how 
the word is divided into syllables. It must be remembered 
that part of the regular preparation of the teacher for this 
lesson should be reference to the dictionary so as to ascertain 



124 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

the correct syllabication of the word. Pupils may then be 
called upon to pronounce the word in imitation of the teacher, 
pausing shghtly so as to indicate the syllables. Others may 
be called to the blackboard to divide the words into syllables 
by placing vertical lines between them. Here the teacher 
should stand close to the blackboard so as to be able im- 
mediately to erase the entire word if an error is made in the 
division. Care should be taken that somewhere on the black- 
board should appear the word in an undivided form. It is 
also suggested that colored chalk be used to indicate the 
lines of division, and, furthermore, that at no time should the 
separation be indicated by raising the chalk from the board 
and indicating the different syllables by writing them as sepa- 
rate "parts. 

The next step should be quick oral drill on the spelling of 
the words by the cumulative-syllabic method. Once more it 
may be remarked that it is not our purpose to enter into a dis- 
cussion of why this method has been considered the best. 
Statistics show conclusively that where it has been employed, 
the improvement in spelling percentages attained by a class 
is almost marvelous. The spelling is of this form: 

Remember, re, r-e; mem, m-e^m; remem; her, b-e-r; re- 
member. Care should be taken that there be no exaggeration 
of vowel values, such, for example, as may be made when 
pupils pronounce a final suffix, a-h-l-e, with the long sound of a. 
While one boy is spelling, the rest of the class may be permitted 
to spell with him but in a low tone. When this step takes place, 
the word has been erased from the blackboard, or the boy who 
spells stands with his back to the board, while those in their 
seats spell with closed eyes. The entire class may then be called 
upon to write the word in the air, giving the name of each letter 
as they write it; or they may write the words on their desks 
without pencils. Further drill may be secured by sending 
children to the board one after the other, to write the word 



SPELLING 125 

and to syllabicate it. Finally, the attention of the children 
should be drawn to the word as a unit written on the blackboard 
unseparated, and on the perception card. It wiU be noted that 
at no time is the word on the perception card syllabicated. 

The next step may be to develop the meaning of the word. 
Ask the class where they have met it before. Who remembers 
in what lesson it was? In what part of the story did it come? 
Does any one know the sentence in the reading book from 
which this word is taken? Who can give the sentence, or part 
of it? The actual teaching of the meaning will vary, depending 
upon the grade. Some of the methods are here suggested. 
From this sentence, what do you guess is the meaning of this 
word? Have you ever seen a word like this? Do you know 
some word which means the same as this? Do you know some 
other word or words which we could have used in the sentence 
instead of this word? Give some word which means the 
opposite of this. In the higher grades where the children have 
an approximate understanding of the meaning but cannot give 
the definition briefly, they may be sent to the dictionary. 
Abstract words should not be explained at great length, but 
should be associated with something concrete. Where possi- 
ble, descriptive words should be explained by being dramatized. 
The teacher may give the children two or three sentences 
containing the word, and from the comparison of these sen- 
tences, the children may approximate or guess the meaning of 
the word. They may then be allowed to use the word in 
sentences. At times in the lower grades, it has been found valu- 
able to prepare a large cardboard sheet on which appear t3/pe 
sentences showing the correct use of the word in a sentence. 
Children, during the study period, copy these sentences in 
their book, and in this way memorize, or at all events, become 
familiar with good examples of the correct use of the words 
they are learning. It should be remembered, however, that 
this last device is not a substitute for the teaching of the mean- 



126 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

ing of the words. It is merely supplying one model after the 
children have formed their own sentences. 

The return may now be made to the spelling of the word. 
First, it should be spelled orally by the children and then 
written on the blackboard. Care should be taken to have 
different children go to the blackboard so that, as far as possible, 
every one will have an opportunity to give some form of motor 
expression during the spelling lesson. If the word presents 
any particular difficulty, attention should be called to the 
difficult part, and wherever possible, a device should be em- 
ployed for the fixing of the correct form. Finally, everything 
should be erased from the board and the children allowed to 
take their last quick look at the perception card. Ask the 
children to close their eyes, and in rapid succession ask ques- 
tions like the following: What is the third letter from the 
last? Name the middle letter. What is the second letter of 
the word? How many e's are there in the word? — etc. This 
method is followed with every word. Then, in rapid succession, 
each perception card is shown once more to the class. 

Papers have already been distributed, and the children are 
then told to write out the words of the lesson from memory. 
There should be no syllabic spelling at this point on the papers 
or in any blackboard or note-book work which comes after this 
step. Syllabication is a part of presentation, and not a part of 
expression. While the children are writing, the teacher should 
walk around the room and make note of the children who spell 
the first, second, and third word, etc., correctly. Wherever 
possible, she should select poor spellers and carefully see to it 
that they are later called upon to write on the board words 
which they have already spelled correctly on their papers. 
The aim should be to exercise the greatest care that no child be 
called upon to write a word on the blackboard unless he has 
already spelled the word correctly at his seat. As has already 
been suggested, the word should be written on the blackboard 



SPELLING 127 

as a whole. The children compare their own spelling with 
the word on the board. Frequently, the papers may be inter- 
changed. 

All corrections should be immediate. That is to say, as soon 
as the word has been written on the board, the children compare, 
and those who missed the word stand. The teacher should take 
note of the mmiber of children who missed and this number 
should be written by the teacher on her own list, opposite the 
word. It will then serve as a guide, indicating whether the 
word needs special class drill or merely drill with individual 
children. Those who spelled the word incorrectly should draw 
a line completely through the word, and place the correct form 
to the right of the word or above the word as well as on the other 
side of the paper. In this way, we can get constant writing of 
the correct form. If time permits, children should be required 
to write the misspelled word on the other side of the paper cor- 
rectly three or even five times. The correction proceeds in 
this maimer to the end of the lesson. Then each child writes 
correctly in his ''misspelled- word book," those words which 
were wrong in his lesson. The perception cards should then be 
fixed on the perception card-frame, and the words left in full 
view of the class. 

Some Devices and Suggestions 

1. Frequently, it will be found of value to test a class on the 
words already selected by the teacher from an earlier content, 
the testing to take place before any real teaching is done. It 
will be found that many of these words are already known by 
the class, and therefore the time for developing and impressing 
knowledge of the form may be very much curtailed. 

2. Allow to remain on the blackboard a Hst of the words 
which have already been studied. Have each word distinctly 
pronounced by as many pupils as possible. Direct the attention 
of the class to the board, quickly erase a word, call upon one 



128 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

pupil to spell it, another to use it in a sentence, and a third to 
pass to the board and rewrite the word, beginning a new column. 
Then have a pupil do this with the other words, the pupil calUng 
upon his classmates for the word. In this way, pass through 
the list, calling for pronunciation, spelHng, sentences, and re- 
writing, and when the lesson is completed, the first list will have 
been erased and a dupHcate will have taken its place. 

3. In dictating the words for a review spelling lesson, instead 
of giving the words separately, give a sentence containing the 
word, and have the children select from the sentence the word 
that they have most recently learned to spell. They write on 
the paper only the spelling word. 

4. Spelling matches never lose their interest for a class. 

5. Let the children at home make up lists of what in their 
estimation are the ten most difficult words taken up so far in 
the term work. Let five or six children dictate their lists to the 
class for oral spelling; the winner is the boy who makes up a hst 
which catches the greatest munber of his classmates. 

6. Instead of having the same word respelt time and time 
again by the class, dictate derivatives. Later in the course, 
the children may be called upon to supply these derivatives 
themselves. 

7. Frequently, in the dictation of words, direct the class to 
write the words not in a coliunn, but horizontally, one after 
the other. When, owing to the fact that the end of the line has 
been reached, it is necessary to separate the word, the children 
are given a practical way of applying their knowledge of the 
syllabication of the word. If the separation of the word is 
incorrect, the word is counted wrong. 

8. MisspelHng a word repeatedly tends to develop the habit 
of misspelHng, and fixes the incorrect form in the mind of the 
child. It will, therefore, be found advisable in written exercises 
to have the pupils show their conscious inability to spell a word 
correctly by drawing a dash where the word should appear. 



SPELLING 129 

Children should be trained not to guess at the spelling of a 
word. 

9. It should be remembered that in practical life pupils are 
rarely called upon to spell orally. Oral spelling, which is simply 
describing a word by naming its letters in order, is a means to an 
end, and should never be used as the sole method of teaching 
spelling. The real test in spelling is writing the word correctly 
in a language exercise, a dictation exercise, a business letter, or 
the like. The proper function of oral spelling is to describe 
word forms already in the mind, not to occasion them. It has 
well been said that by describing an object an artist never 
yet learned to draw it. That artist, however, who can draw an 
object correctly from memory can certainly name its parts in 
their proper order. Moreover, every attempt he makes to 
describe the object accurately from memory helps him to see 
it better. So it is with words in learning to spell. If the pupil 
can construct the word in his mind, can visualize it, and can 
imagine it correctly, he can describe it. If he cannot visualize 
it, he cannot describe it. Every failure he makes in describing 
these in oral spelling, should stimulate him to examine more 
carefully the form of the word, and fix the image. 

10. Let the most frequent form of dictated spelling lesson 
be that in which the words are given in sentences, brief, and 
with a worthy content, the entire sentence being written by the 
children. 

11. Except in regular formal review tests, the teacher should 
not correct the work of the children. Correction may be made 
a part of the drill intended to fix the correct form. 

Summary. — The spelling of words is of value only in written 
composition. Hence the meaning of all words must be taught in con- 
nection with the spelling. Words should be selected from (i) a read- 
ing lesson already taken up in the classroom; (2) a story intended 
for reproduction by the pupils; (3) from the subject matter of the 
grades; (4) from conversation lessons in preparation for composi- 



I30 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

tion. The principles underlying the method are: (i) a multiple sense- 
appeal should be used; (2) drill is necessary to fixation; (3) device 
should capture the interest; (4) appUcation should be immediate. 
Effective aids in the teaching of spelling are: (i) correct articula- 
tion and pronunciation; (2) clear visuaUzation of the after percept; 
(3) oral spelling by the cumulative syllabic method. Written spell- 
ing may take these forms: (i) writing words in columns; (2) writ- 
ing words in succession along the hne, thus calhng for h)rphenation; 
(3) writing words in sentences or paragraphs dictated by the teacher. 
Corrections should be immediate and should be followed by the cor- 
rect writing of the misspelled words a number of times. 



CHAPTER XIII 
DICTATION 

Where it is considered desirable to develop a habit of techni- 
cal or formal accuracy which shall function in the margin of 
consciousness while the center of attention is directed more to 
content than to form, it is necessary at some point in the in- 
struction to focaHze upon the technique. Desire to express the 
thought supplies a correct motivation to the child. It is a 
common complaint with teachers that children become more 
and more inaccurate in spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, 
paragraphing, etc., as they become more interested in the 
thought to which they are attempting to give expression. In 
many cases, instruction in this formal or technical aspect is 
limited to the period of correction which follows in the class upon 
the writing of the composition. That this method of procedure 
cannot be based upon the right principles, and that it is not 
productive of adequate return for the effort expended by the 
teacher, is proved by the fact that in the seventh and eighth 
years of the course, children make mistakes which were made 
in the fourth and fifth, and the correction of which has been 
made the subject of almost countless lessons in the interval. 

A right understanding of the meaning and the conduct of a 
dictation lesson should effect a reform. The object of the 
dictation lesson is, wherever possible, to develop the reason for a 
certain form or a particular use in punctuation; by repeated 
drill to render automatic the habit of the correct use of this 
form, or the right appHcation of this mark in punctuation; and 
finally, to afford opportunity for the immediate application in 



132 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

the writing of some content, interesting to the child, of this 
element of technique. 

Every lesson in dictation should be an exercise in spelling 
and should present an illustration of some principle in sentence 
or paragraph form, in capitalization, or in punctuation. Many 
teachers have become impressed by the idea that a dictation 
lesson may be based upon the thought of the selection to be 
dictated to the class. There is here a confusion as to the real 
aim. If the purpose is to have the child become acquainted 
with a great idea expressed in classic form, it should be under- 
stood that this impression cannot be vivid or lasting if the only 
presentation of it is through the mere dictation exercise. Such 
selections should be developed with the class in somewhat the 
same fashion as a "memory gem" is taken up. And while it is 
possible that the writing of the selection will serve to fix its 
language more firmly in the mind, and while, in addition, it may 
be true that a dictation by the teacher is better than a mere 
copy by the children, it is to be remembered that such a dictation 
does not properly belong to the kind of exercise we are here 
attempting to explain. In this particular case, dictation is 
merely a method of securing motor expression that the memory 
may be more firm and retentive. 

If, on the other hand, the aim is to fix a certain kind of 
expression or to show an application of some principle in 
punctuation, care should be taken that the content of the se- 
lection to be dictated be not so interesting that attention 
must perforce be divided between an understanding of the 
meaning and a proper appreciation of the formal element. It 
is not to be inferred from this that the paragraphs and sen- 
tences are to be concerned with a subject matter that cannot 
possibly present any interest to the child, on the theory that 
if uninteresting subject matter be afforded, there will be maxi- 
mum attention to the formal aspect. Even in pure drill work, 
examples should have a content value. The danger is lest the 



DICTATION 133 

content be so interesting that the central aim of the lesson be 
lost sight of. 

In a dictation lesson, it will be perfectly proper to have 
sentences and paragraphs dealing with topics selected from the 
history, the geography, or other subjects of the grade. For 
example, it may be that the aim of the lesson is the teaching of 
the unbroken quotation. The motive for the lesson may be the 
fact that the children are studying the reproduction of a story. 
In the course of their writing, it will be necessary to reproduce 
in written form a dialogue. The dictation lesson should come 
between the time at which the need for the use of the quotation 
marks is felt and the period during which it will be necessary 
for the children to make use of the quotation marks in giving 
their written version of the story. Now, in the formal lesson, 
it will be proper for the teacher to use as a content for her 
illustrations and for her final application, a conversation based 
directly upon, even drawn from, the dialogue of the actual 
characters in the story learned by the children. 

In teaching the use of the comma for words in series, the 
teacher may employ sentences containing facts from the geogra- 
phy lesson, and so on. The teacher will readily see other 
implications of this suggestion. 

All the sentences used for the inductive development of the 
principle to be taught, as well as the final selection given for the 
step of application, should be carefully chosen. A long para- 
graph containing but one Httle illustration of the point at issue, 
for example, would not be a good selection. On the other hand, 
one in which the English is completely twisted in order that the 
sentence may afford many illustrations of the point in question, 
would be equally bad. 

The actual dictation of the selection to the children, should 
be a test of what has previously been taught. Occasionally, 
the entire period may be devoted to the dictation of altogether 
new matter, the aim being to test the power of the children, and 



134 



THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 



to afford an opportunity for review. The point to be taught in 
a dictation lesson should be learned by the children as a matter 
of observation. There are several possible methods of approach. 
In all classes, the formal element should be one which the chil- 
dren will find it necessary to employ in written work, one for 
which the need has already arisen. In other words, a dictation 
lesson never stands apart from the regular written EngHsh work 
of the grade. As a corollary of this, it may very easily happen 
that in no two classes of the same grade will the sequence of 
topics be the same. In each class, those points will be taken 
up for which the need arises in the course of the regular written 
work. At the end of the term, however, it is reasonable to 
suppose that every class of the grade will have covered the same 
ground. 

The teacher may direct the children to a certain mode of 
punctuation used in some paragraph in the reading book or 
some part of the history or geography text book. Here the 
printed form is in the hands of each child, and the rule for 
punctuation, or for capitalization, may be stated by the child 
as a result of observation. He notices a certain sameness in 
the appearance of the passage in the book. Upon this point, the 
teacher attempts to focus his attention. The nature of the 
form, the probable reason of its use, and so on, are carefully 
developed. Then other sentences may be given to the children 
with the injunction that they apply this principle of punctuation. 
Here the drill may take one of three forms: The children may 
be given sheets of paper on which are sentences already punctu- 
ated. They may be called upon to describe the punctuation, 
to explain its use, if the sentences are properly pimctuated, and 
to correct the punctuation if they find any errors. Secondly, 
they may be given a paper containing a series of selections 
either incorrectly pimctuated or not pimctuated at all. They 
may be called upon to supply the correct punctuation, and to 
give a reason for what they have done. Thirdly, they may be 



DICTATION . 135 

asked to form a sentence of such a type that it will illustrate 
the point to be taught. They may be requested to write out 
this sentence, giving the correct punctuation. 

The teacher may have prepared on large sheets of cardboard 
or heavy oak-tag, sentences showing the principle about to be 
taught. The punctuation mark itself may be shown in differ- 
ently colored chalk. Once more the pupils are led to observe, 
to generalize, and to apply. 

The teacher may recall the particular kind of construction 
which calls for the new lesson in dictation, and she may, simply 
by a process of developing through questions and answers, bring 
out the principle which it is her aim to teach. 

When it is felt that the observation has been sufficiently 
concentrated, that there has been a sufficient amoimt of practical 
application in type sentences, the teacher may lead the children 
to formulate (in the shape of a general principle) the facts that 
they have observed. The wording should be clear, direct, and 
simple. The rule should be brief. The ffiial step is where the 
teacher dictates a somewhat longer selection without emphasiz- 
ing the part at which the difficulty occurs, thus testing the class 
on its retention of what has just been taught. 

If there are many errors in the results, it will be quite fair 
to infer that the presentation has not been thorough. It may 
reasonably be expected that more than one-half of the class 
will produce a dictation exercise without any mistakes in it at 
all. This is given on the assumption that every word in the 
selection has been carefully considered with a view to ascertain- 
ing whether it calls for a knowledge of spelling that the children 
may fairly be expected to possess. 

In the actual dictation, the teacher should first read the entire 
selection through, enunciating clearly, giving the proper length 
of time to the pauses, and so phrasing the reading that she will 
pause at a break in the sense. A few questions may then be 
asked of the class with a view to ascertaining whether the chil- 



136 . THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

dren understand what the central thought of the selection is. 
During this time, the children should sit without pencils in hand, 
and with attention directed entirely upon the content of what 
the teacher is dictating. Then the actual dictation, and writing 
by the children may begin. At no time should the teacher repeat 
in dictating. 

The speed of dictation should be such as to make the writing 
by the children approximate in rapidity that which they would 
do were they producing an original composition. In the lower 
grades, care should be taken that the children are not called 
upon to carry too many words in their minds. On the other 
hand, however, as the work proceeds through the grades, the 
number of words given as a single phrase by the teacher, should 
be steadily increased, until in the last year, the children should 
be able to take in a complete sentence of average length as a 
unit. In every case, however, the phrases and pauses as given 
by the teacher should be determined primarily by the meaning 
of the selection. 

When the passage has been finished by the teacher, one of two 
courses may be followed. She may either read the selection 
through once more, or she may ask the children to read over what 
they have written. During this time, they should be allowed to 
make any corrections which they think necessary; and in the final 
estimating of their work, mistakes corrected by the children be- 
fore the class correction takes place, should not be counted against 
them. In this way they may be taught to correct independently 
of the teacher's help, and so to form a habit that will be of 
inestimable value to them in later life. It may be objected, 
however, that children may then fall into a habit of careless 
punctuation, spelling, and arrangement in their first writing, de- 
pending upon the second reading for revision and correction. To 
avoid this, the teacher may set before the class as a general aim 
the ideal of perfect work; that is, the production of a paper 
which will have a minimum number of erasures and corrections. 



DICTATION 137 

The correction of the work may take any one of several forms. 
Children may correct their own work, or they may exchange 
papers and correct that of their classmates. If the selection 
dictated by the teacher was taken from a reading or other text 
book, the children should be requested to take out the book and 
to compare their work with the printed page. In other cases, 
mimeographed sheets, showing the correct form, and previously 
prepared by the teacher, may be distributed, one to each member 
of the class. Where it is not possible to do this, the entire 
selection should previously have been written out by the teacher 
on the blackboard and kept covered during the day and through- 
out the dictation lesson by sheets of paper to be removed when 
this point in the lesson is reached. 

As the children look over the papers and compare what they 
or their classmates have written, with the correct form, the 
teacher should pass freely around the room, and should draw 
the attention of the entire class to the particular points of the 
lesson. This part of the work may be made to afford a review 
of the principles developed during the period of presentation. 

All errors should be indicated in lead pencil or in differently 
colored ink, and the correct form should immediately be inserted. 
If there has been an error in spelling, the children should write 
the word correctly, underneath the dictation exercise. Finally, 
a summary of the niunber and the kind of errors should be made 
by each child. Those having perfect papers should be asked 
to stand, and the very best papers in point of appearance should 
be kept on exhibition on the bulletin board until the next dicta- 
tion lesson. 

Rarely, if ever, should there be a second dictation or a 
rewriting of the dictation exercise. It is difficult to conceive 
a condition in which the children will be suppHed with a 
proper motive for such an exercise. If the results of the lesson 
show that the point has not been completely grasped by the 
class, the entire subject should be gone over at the next 



138 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

dictation lesson, and should be dwelt upon until it has been 
properly fixed. 

As an example of how such a lesson should be conducted, let 
us take the teaching of the use of the apostrophe as a mark of 
possession. It is of course to be assumed that the need for this 
instruction has been made clear because of errors in the children's 
work pointed out by the teacher. 

The first work of the teacher should be to make clear what is 
meant by the idea of possession, and to develop this without 
introducing the complicating element of the use of the apostro- 
phe. This can be done by making the first part of the work 
center around the use of the possessive pronouns. 

The last of the pronouns to be taught should be "its," 
and there should be careful drill upon the use of this particular 
form before the study of the apostrophe is taken up. The 
usual procedure of the teacher is to study the use of the 
apostrophe and then to introduce the pronouns with the state- 
ment that "these are the words that can be made to show 
possession without the use of the apostrophe." The relation 
of its to the nominative form, it, is so much like that of the 
relation between the singular possessive of any noun and its 
nominative form, that the children, following as usually the 
line of least resistance, carry over the rule for the use of the 
possessive apostrophe to the pronoun form. As a result there 
grows up that most common of all errors in the writing of 
possessive forms. If the writing of the form its as a possessive 
form is drilled upon before the use of the apostrophe is taught, 
there will be focalization upon this correct form and the building 
up of associations between it and such forms as his, hers, yours, 
so that the writing of this word will become a purely formal 
thing. Later the statement may be made by the teacher that 
most of the words in the English language cannot be made to 
show the fact of possession by a complete change of the word 
such as we have in the change of I to my, and of he to his, etc. 



DICTATION 



139 



We must use a mark, called the apostrophe. The rule for its 
use is: First think of the name of the person or the animal that 
actually is the owner or the possessor. Write the name of this 
person or animal. Then remember that the sign of possession 
or ownership is the apostrophe followed by 5. If, however, the 
5 is not sounded, we do not write it. Illustrations may then be 
given. If we wish to speak of a boy as owning a hat, we first 
write the word hoy because that is the name of the person. 
Then we remember that the sign is the apostrophe and s. We 
think for a moment whether the s is sounded. We pronounce 
the word to ourselves, and finding that the 5 is sounded, we 
write h-o-y's. The teacher will find that the application of this 
rule is extremely simple and makes unnecessary the teaching of 
long lists of exceptions. 

It will be noted that no attempt has been made here to develop 
the rule. It has been suggested that the rule for the use of the 
apostrophe could be developed inductively on the basis of a 
great number of illustrations given by the teacher and written 
on the blackboard. Is not this an unnecessary expenditure of 
time? The better method would be to write a number of 
characteristic examples on the board, to give the rule and to 
have the class see the application of the rule in every instance 
which the teacher has presented. At the beginning it will be 
found valuable to have the children write the 5 which follows 
the apostrophe, separate from the word itself. That is to say, 
the child should be compelled to lift pen or pencil from the paper 
when he has written the name of the owner or possessor. This 
physical act of raising the pencil is the outward sign of that 
pause in the thinking which is called for by the intelligent 
application of the rule. Needless to say, after a term or more of 
this formal drill the process of using the apostrophe will have 
become so completely automatic that the children will be able 
to write the entire word as a unit, and, when necessary, will 
insert the apostrophe. 



I40 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

Summary. — In written and in oral English, attention is concen- 
trated upon either the grasping or the expression of the thought. 
All considerations of correctness of form are relegated to the margin 
of consciousness. In order that the habits of technical accuracy may 
function properly, at some time in their formation they must be 
focahzed upon. Exercises in dictation are focalized lessons tending 
to fix habits which are later to operate in the margin of conscious- 
ness. 

The subject matter of the dictated exercises may be related to the 
subjects of the grade or to the composition of pupUs. The motive 
should be the desire to attain perfect written form. Each lesson 
should center around one point. The actual dictation should be a 
test of what has previously been presented. The process should be 
from observation through generalization of the principle and drill, 
to appKcation to new matter. Time should be given to the pupils 
to correct their own work. Formal correction should be followed 
by repeated drill on correct forms until the probability of a recur- 
rence of the error has been minimized. 



CHAPTER XIV 
COMPOSITION 

Composition is primarily a form of written expression for 
developing the personality of the child. It is here that the 
newer point of view in education has probably exerted greatest 
influence upon methods. In all work where the product is a 
definite and readily examined thing, there is a strong tendency 
toward formalism. In language work, for example, conventional 
usage has fixed certain forms and idioms which go to make up 
correct English. Furthermore, an analysis of the practice of 
our best authors has brought to light principles of arrangement 
and proportion which, when carried out, create all the desirable 
effects of climax and suspense. Nothing, therefore, is more 
tempting than to develop skill in writing as a formal thing, 
subordinating everything to the right understanding of the 
rules of correct expression and artistic arrangement. It is this 
spirit which, to a large extent, dominated secondary and college 
teaching in English up to within the last few years. And it is 
the same spirit, though perceptible in a smaller degree, which 
has deadened composition work in the elementary schools. 

Rightly conceived, composition should offer to the teacher 
the finest opportunities for affording to the children an added 
means of self-expression. It should give clarification to ideas, 
since expression always carries with it a rearrangement of the 
content of consciousness, and therefore, a better unification of 
experiences. All expression in language is a means to the better 
reconstruction and reorganization of mental states. As the 
opportunities for oral expression, owing to the size of the classes 



142 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

in our ordinary organization, and the limited time which can be 
devoted to the work, are not so extensive as they should be, 
the teacher must rely upon the written exercise to give to all 
the class opportunity to realize itself by expression. This is the 
key to the teacher's work. Composition is for 5e//-expression, 
and from this point of view a double duty is heavily laid upon 
the teacher. In the first place, she should more or less directly 
lead the child to the acquisition of experiences so vital, so much 
a part of his developing being, that their very urgency will create 
the motive for expression; in other words, the desire to communi- 
cate to others the nature of these experiences. Secondly, she 
must so surround the child during this work with a spirit of 
freedom and spontaneity, that the child will feel unrestrained 
in the process of expression. In this method of teaching, the 
teacher must give to the child a consciousness of mastery over 
the difficulties of the written form so that these will not stand 
between the idea and its adequate expression in words. In 
order to make clearer this point of view, it may be well to take 
up each of these points in fuller detail. 

The day has practically passed when in our elementary schools 
children are called upon to write compositions on such subjects 
as "Home," "Friendship," "Character," and the hke. It was 
the old idea that all that was necessary for the development of 
concepts which the teacher desired to have the children possess, 
was to direct the thinking of the children to these subjects in 
the hope that dehberation on the abstract theme would result 
in the formation of the desired general notions. A more rational 
psychology has taught that a general notion or a concept is 
merely the meaning that we read into our experiences and that, 
therefore, no concept that is really a part of the child himself, 
can be present except on the basis of concrete and particular 
experiences in the life of the child. It is the duty of the teacher 
to select such subjects for composition as will be directly and 
immediately expressive of the life of the child. 



COMPOSITION 143 

The subjects of compositions should be directly or indirectly 
personal. In the first place, if, as will be pointed out later, the 
approach is made through the study of a model, that model 
should be so selected that its tone, its theme, and the mode of 
its treatment are suited to the development of the child at the 
particular stage when the presentation is taking place. Nor is 
it to be supposed that this will be Hmiting the scope of the work. 
The power of imagination, that is, of projecting self into a 
figured environment, is so strong in children that the choice of 
subjects is practically unlimited. Nothing is more delightful 
to a class than to write from the standpoint of some imaginary 
person whom, for the moment, the child believes himself to be. 
It may be well to insist that in every composition the direct 
personal note be given by the use either of the pronoun in the 
first person, or by the direct naming of particular individuals in 
the class. 

As an instance of this, we may take a subject like the follow- 
ing: If the composition happens to be an exposition of how to 
play a certain game, instead of a statement in the abstract of 
the rules of the game, the laying out of the field, and the disposi- 
tion of the players, the child may be asked to write an account 
of an actual game which either he has played or he has seen his 
classmates indulge in. In his account he should refer to the 
players by name, and thus make his account intimate and per- 
sonal. If the starting point of the lesson is some striking and 
general topic like "A Narrow Escape," "A Curious Coincidence," 
"The Unexpected Guest," or the like, the child should be 
encouraged to tell the story in the first person instead of as a 
mere narrative from the standpoint of an onlooker. In order to 
secure this kind of expression, the teacher must be careful in 
the choice of subjects. 

A second requisite is the creation of an atmosphere of freedom 
and spontaneity. For this, three factors are necessary. 

First, a feeling on the part of the child that he has something 



144 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

to say worth saying, and as far as he knows, worth listening to. 
Suppose that the aim of the teacher has been to develop original 
modes of approaching a subject. The child will know that his 
work, to a great extent, must be expressive of his own person- 
aHty. Since the desire to express the self in words or in action 
is one of the strongest characteristics of children during the 
elementary school age, there can be no doubt of the interest 
with which the child will take up the writing. 

The second factor is the feeling that when once completed the 
work will be assured of an appreciative audience. Through all 
the work of writing, there should be present the consciousness 
that what the child is now writing will be seen or heard by many 
other children. The instinct of communication is only one 
phase of the general social or gregarious instinct. However well 
the teacher may have chosen her subjects, however animated 
may have been her development, it is only when the children 
feel that others than the teacher will read through their work, 
and read, moreover, with the interest that comes only to one 
who has tried the same thing, that they will write with the 
enthusiasm necessary for the production of worthy work. 

Thirdly, to create the atmosphere of freedom and spontaneity, 
the child must be relieved of the haunting fear that every word 
is to be carefully scrutinized and every phrase weighed, and 
every sentence closely examined for the purpose of detecting 
errors. The center of attention during the time of actual 
composition should be directed to the thought and its fullest 
expression. Any attention diverted to the form will mean a dis- 
traction. It is not to be supposed that, as some have suggested, 
children should be allowed to write in complete and utter disre- 
gard of the rules and laws of punctuation, spelling, arrangement, 
and the Hke. All such questions, however, should be relegated 
to the margin of consciousness; that is to say, in a certain sense 
their control should be sent down to the lower centers. To do 
this successfully at any part of the elementary school course, the 



COMPOSITION 145 

focus of attention must first have been directed to acquiring 
a habit of accuracy in these particulars. Stiffness in school 
composition is due to one or both of two factors. Either the 
rules of formal expression have been insufficiently drilled, so 
that the production of correct form calls for a large amount of 
conscious attention, or else the method of criticism has been 
largely destructive, so that the child is bviried under a wave of 
diffidence due to his fear of making errors which will evoke 
ridicule or unkindly comment. 

It has already been pointed out in connection with the teach- 
ing of reading, that there should be a separation of the formal 
from the content element. In the written work in composi- 
tion, it wiU probably be found that study of form should 
dominate the lowest classes. Children do not possess intuitively 
habits of correct written expression. These must be built up 
slowly. Not that the lowest classes should study formal work 
only. On the contrary, it will be found that a certain amount 
of purely content work is absolutely indispensable if the formal 
work is to be interesting. On the other hand, it is not to be 
supposed that in the higher grades formal work should be 
completely disregarded. To secure steady progress, the course 
must be continuous. In every case the underlying principle 
should be observed. The interest in a real and living content 
must afford the motive for the mastery of the form. 

Instruction in composition may be said to pass through these 
stages: In the first place, the child Hves either directly or 
vicariously through vital experiences. Secondly, he feels an 
urgency for the expression of these experiences. Thirdly, he 
gives oral expression to these, and attempts a written form of 
expression. Fourthly, he finds that the forms of expression at 
his disposal are insufficient to meet the demands made upon 
him by his new environment. Fifthly, the teacher, estimating 
properly the extent of the deficiency, sees that if the child is to 
give right expression to his thoughts, he must master a certain 



146 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

form. The teacher relies upon the interest of the child in his 
experiences, upon his desire to give expression to them, and upon 
his feeling that this expression ought to be correct, to supply 
the child with that re-enforcement of his ideal which is one of 
the necessary and antecedent conditions of prolonged voluntary 
attention along the lines of true interest. Summarizing then, 
— given a child with something to say, who is assured of an 
interested audience, and is not preoccupied with the technique 
and formal difficulties of expression, we have the ideal conditions 
for good work in composition. In order to make clearer what 
has already been said, it may be well to lay down a series of 
suggestions. 

1. Never assign a lesson for composition unless you are sure 
the children have sufficient information and experience to 
enable them to write easily, intelligently, and willingly. 

2. See that all your subjects are concrete, personal, definite, 
and brief. 

3. Remember that every written composition lesson carries 
with it two distinct features of difficulty: First, the organization 
of the thought. Secondly, the right expression of the thought. 
Make the work easier for the child by having almost every 
written lesson preceded by a period of preparation in which the 
point of view of the different children may be brought out, new 
attitudes suggested, and the right order of treatment decided 
upon. This period of preparation may frequently conclude 
with the formation of an outline by topics. 

4. Devote a complete period to the actual writing of the 
composition and the reading by pupils of their own work. Make 
the period of preparation an exercise in oral composition. 

5. Do not sacrifice free expression for the purpose of securing 
a beautiful copy. On the other hand, never permit slovenly 
work. 

6. Maintain the closest correlation between composition and 
drill on the common errors of speech. 



COMPOSITION 147 

7. Be sure to distinguish a formal composition lesson of this 
type from a mere reproduction of the subject matter of other 
subjects of the course. 

Summary. — Composition is an added means of self-expression 
for the cMld. Subjects should be personal. The spirit of the exer- 
cise should be free and spontaneous. To secure this, (i) the child 
must feel that he has something worth while to say; (2) he must 
feel that he is writing for appreciative and sympathetic readers; 
(3) he must not be burdened with the fear of over-minute destruc- 
tive criticism. Interest in the real and hving content must afford the 
motive for the mastery of the form. The sequence should be (i) 
gaining vital experiences; (2) feehng an urgent need for expression; 
(3) oral expression; (4) attempts at written expression; (5) study 
of forms of written expression; (6) adequate written expression. 



CHAPTER XV 
COMPOSITION (Continued) 

The Study of Models 

It has been suggested that in the teaching of composition 
there should be an extensive use of models. The recorded 
experiences of many of the best writers point to the fact that 
their own style was formed largely through the careful study of 
the works of their great predecessors. This studio or laboratory 
method has features of the greatest value for work in the ele- 
mentary schools. The general principle underlying the method 
is eminently sound. The most important instinct in children 
on which the educative process can be brought to bear is the 
instinct of imitation. It is through imitation that human 
speech is transmitted from generation to generation. It is 
through imitation that we build up those habits of action which 
constitute the basis of character. In other fields, the potency of 
this instinct as an added factor in teaching has long been 
recognized. It is surprising that it has taken so long to make 
its way into the teaching of English in elementary schools. 

It need not be emphasized that as carried out in the ele- 
mentary school, the method should be essentially different from 
that suited to older children. Yet, while it is the aim not so 
much to give certain tricks of style as it is to furnish standards 
and models of correct, clear, and forcible expression, in many 
respects the underlying laws of the method will be the same. 
There must be a model, a careful study of the model with 
definite purposes in mind, perhaps an imitation, and finally an 
application to an original content of what has been gathered 
from, the study. 



COMPOSITION — STUDY OF MODELS 149 

In a brief way this summarizes the usual studio method. 
While it possesses many features of undoubted excellence, it 
must be carefully examined before it can be adopted in toto. 

In the ordinary course of study the teaching of formal written 
composition commences in the fourth year. In the earher 
years, there have been exercises in dictation, in transcription, 
and in directed paragraph construction. With the fourth year, 
however, begins the study of the model as a basis for composi- 
tion. There should be a definite progression in the difficulty 
of the models selected. An ordinary course of study merely 
says that there are to be models of description, of narration, of 
exposition, and of letters. We are supposed to infer that there 
is to be a gradation of the difficulty. The needs in any particular 
locality will determine the principle that should underlie this 
increase of difficulty. A suggestion of the arrangement is here 

given: 

Letter Writing 

Fourth year, first half. — Select as a model a pupil's letter 'to. 
father, or to mother, or to a teacher, on school activities. This 
is the most intensely personal subject that can be selected. If 
the teacher adjusts the time of teaching so that there will be a 
real or an apparent need for the writing of such a letter, the 
necessary motive will be supplied. 

Fourth year, second half. — Select a pupil's letter to a fellow- 
pupil, on school life, etc. Here once more the personal note is 
sounded, while the added difficulty is the fact that correspond- 
ence between pupils of this age is less likely to be spontaneous 
than correspondence between a pupil and a parent or a teacher. 
The strain is therefore placed upon the child of meeting a new 
condition for which his earUer training has not prepared him. 
As a result, there will be development in the child's power of 
expression. 

Fifth year, first half. — The child is approaching the time when, 
according to the requirements of a compulsory education law, 



I50 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

he may leave school and enter upon employment. The model 
may therefore be a letter making application for a position. 
The child will see the immediate importance and the ultimate 
value of this exercise, and there will be no question as to the 
interest and effort he will put forth. 

Fifth year, second half. — The probabilities of having boys 
leave school to go to work become very much greater. As a 
consequence, the work in business correspondence may be made 
more extensive, and the models for letter writing may include 
various business forms, correspondence connected with organiza- 
tions, and the like. 

Sixth year, first half. — It will probably be found that a greater 
portion of time should be spent on the other branches of the 
composition work. It may be found advisable to omit any 
formal or advance work in letter writing. This is not to imply 
that the children are not to write any letters in this grade. It 
is to be remembered that the suggestions for models as laid down 
here apply only to the formal study of the technique of the letter 
taken up as a separate exercise. In addition to this, as in the 
other branches of the composition work, there should be informal 
work, such as is naturally suggested by the ever widening ex- 
periences of the child in his school and home relations. There- 
fore, the class may be called upon to write half a dozen letters 
covering the types studied in the fourth and fifth years. 

Sixth year, second half. — Formal letter writing may again be 
taken up through the medium of a model, and particular atten- 
tion may be paid to the formal, semi-formal, and the informal 
models of social correspondence. It is of doubtful value to 
spend much time on social correspondence in the third person. 
It is easy for children to understand that the acceptance or the 
refusal of an invitation should be determined in style by the 
nature of the invitation itself, and it is of much greater value to 
the children that they should learn how to write in a spontane- 
ous and informal way Httle notes of acceptance or regret. 



COMPOSITION — STUDY OF MODELS 15 1 

Description 

One of the reasons why children develop in the higher classes 
no greater power of description than they possess in the lower, 
is that teachers have failed to analyze the difficulties of descrip- 
tive composition. There should be a gradation. On the one 
hand, the children should not at the outset be overwhelmed by 
too much; on the other, they should not lose interest in the work 
because each successive grade sees only a repetition of what was 
taken up in the earKer ones. In the analysis of the types of 
descriptive writing as here suggested, it should be remembered 
that the aim is only to give a basis for selecting models for 
intensive study. It is not to be supposed that the only descrip- 
tions which the children are to write should be those suggested 
for the grade, or already taken up in earlier grades. 

It has already been made clear that the standard for choice 
of composition topics should be the degree to which these topics 
are expressive of the normal experience of the children. A child 
may be called upon in the fourth year to write a description of a 
certain subject even though the formal type of such description 
may not be studied until the sixth year. In such work, the 
teacher is not to be too critical of results. 

Fourth year, first half. — The model may be a single, small, 
inanimate object, such as a chair, or a table, or a desk. This is 
easily described, first, because it is purely objective; secondly, 
because there is a regular mode of procedure from the whole to 
the parts, and to a statement of the use. 

Fourth year, second half. — The description may be that of a 
room or an interior. Here the parts are easily arranged be- 
cause there is, first, a description of the unit, and then a treat- 
ment in order of the various parts. Moreover, a further increase 
of difficulty may be provided for in the teacher's presentation 
by having the children inject a subjective element into their 
descriptions; for example, the feeling which the room arouses 



152 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

at first glance, or the general impression which it makes on the 
mind of the observer. Retrospection or subjective analysis is 
always more difficult than purely objective description. 

Fifth year, first half. — The description may be extended to 
that of a building. Here the teacher should aim to develop the 
idea of describing from two different points of view. The house 
in its surroundings may first be treated, and then the house as 
a thing by itself. 

Fifth year, second half. — Description takes a long step from 
the purely expositional features it has possessed in the first three 
models. Here the subject selected should be a large scene of 
some sort — a street scene or one in the country. The de- 
mand made upon the children for descriptive adjectives and 
for phrases that will lend color to the account, will give oppor- 
tunity for complete mental activity. 

In the first half of the sixth year, the description may be that 

of a person, while in the second half, there may be an attempt 

at a combination of the last two named; that is to say, the model 

should be the description of a scene with a person or a group of 

persons in it. 

Narration 

Narration has primarily to do with action. It is d)mamic 
and should be ever changing. Hence, it is in the drama that 
we can find the most valuable suggestions to guide us in the 
selection of models for this kind of work. Here, as in no other 
form of Hterary composition, we see the importance of unity 
and continuity. Two events stand out prominently: the 
cUmax and the catastrophe. The former is the key-stone of the 
play. To it, everything that precedes must lead. Whatever 
does not have intimate bearing on the development of the 
climax is evidence of bad construction. From the cHmax all 
events must radiate through the operation of the natural laws 
of cause and effect, to the final capping event, the catastrophe 
where poetic justice is meted out with lavish hand, where 



COMPOSITION — STUDY OF MODELS 153 

intricacies are unraveled, and obscurities illuminated. Details 
may be introduced for variety or to give the audience pause. 
But in no case should any detail take so important a place that 
the main interest is even for a moment drawn from the develop- 
ment of the cHmax. The deus in machina must be felt but 
never seen. Furthermore, it is an important quality of a 
good play that the opening scene be such as immediately to 
grip the attention and give an insight into the main idea of 
the story. 

In the selection of the model, therefore, and in the teaching 
of this form of composition, the teacher should be careful to 
emphasize the importance of the opening part of the story. 
If the method of taking up the reproduction of stories has been 
followed along the lines suggested in an earlier part of this work, 
it will be found that the children already have command of 
certain good forms of Hterary composition which will serve them 
as models. But it must not be imagined that the teacher is to 
rely altogether upon this knowledge. It is one thing uncon- 
sciously to imitate a good form without analyzing its component 
parts and accounting for its various excellences. It is quite 
another to take up this form as a central object of study, to 
concentrate upon it, and to focalize upon it with a view to 
maldng it an efficient factor for the more ready expression of 
one's ideas. It is from the latter point of view that the study 
of the model should be taken up. The principle determining the 
progression of difficulties in the models for narration, should be 
that of increase in the number of incidents and in the com- 
plexity or involution of their relation. 

Fourth year, first half. — The model may be a single incident 
— a fable or a story. From the very beginning it should be 
pointed out that a story is completed when the point of the 
story has been told. Although the fuller treatment of this 
topic may be deferred to some later grade, from the very be- 
ginning children should be taught that most difficult of all 



*I54 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

features of the story-teller's art; namely, that when they have 
reached the end of the story, they should stop. 

Fourth year, second half. — The model may be a story which 
contains several incidents, so put together and so arranged as to 
develop a telHng climax. 

Fifth year, first half. — The teacher may employ a model 
which makes use of details for the effective telHng of the story. 
The attention of the class should be concentrated upon modes of - 
developing these details through descriptions, and particularly 
through dialogue. 

Fifth year, second half. — A correlation with the work in 
description may be effected. The model may be a story con- 
taining a description of a scene more or less complex. When 
the children come later to write original compositions on the 
basis of the model they have studied, it may be suggested to 
them that it is possible to treat a description so as to make its 
general tone fit the tone of the story. This will lead to a hinting 
at the device of selecting details so as to create the desired effect. 
The same room, for example, may be described so as to create 
the impression either of cheerfulness or of gloom, depending 
upon what features in its appearance are emphasized. 

Sixth year, both halves. — The correlation with the description 
work may be continued so as to have the story model contain a 
description of some person of importante in the narrative. In 
the second half of the sixth year no one particular model should 
be studied, but a number of stories should be read and carefully 
examined with a view to developing the idea of the appropriate 
introduction and the appropriate ending. 

Exposition 

The general plan or outline which is observable in most 
expositions is practically the same. The increase in difl&culty, 
therefore, of our models should come from the use of a greater 
number of details in the course of the exposition. It will not 



COMPOSITION — STUDY OF MODELS 155 

be necessary to treat this question at much length. The nature 
of the subjects chosen for the exposition work, together with the 
models which are furnished as illustrations of what is meant, 
will by itself determine the kind of difficulties added in the 
course of the added grades. 

Fourth year, first half. — The model may tell how a game is 
played. The basis should be an actual game played in sight of 
the children or by the children themselves. The personal element 
may be injected here, as in all the other models in this branch of 
the work, by the use of names, and by definite locations in place. 

Fourth year, second half. — The model may tell how an article 
is made. Care should be taken that the article chosen is one 
of use to the children, and one, moreover, which they have 
really made. 

Fifth year, first half. — The subject may be, "How a lesson 
is conducted." This differs from the work of the fourth year in 
that the material that is used is no longer inanimate but consists 
of the living members of the class. In other words, there is a 
response on the part of those with whom the operation is per- 
formed. 

Fifth year, second half. — The same idea may be carried out in 
somewhat greater complexity by choosing as the subject of the 
exposition some difficult and involved school evolution such as 
the marching into or out of assembly, the action of a class during 
a fire drill, etc. 

Sixth year, first half. — Partly as a preparation for the science 
work of the seventh year and partly as an extension of the work 
in etymology which should have been begun in an earlier class, 
and which by this time should have reached a more or less ad- 
vanced stage, the subject of the exposition may be the explana- 
tion of some term. Emphasis should be laid upon the logical 
development of the parts of the explanation, and care should be 
taken that the children weigh carefully the words, particularly 
the adjectives, used. 



156 



THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 



Sixth year, second half. — There may be a further extension of 
this kind of work by making the subject of the exposition a com- 
parison of two terms or of two animals, or of two cities, or of 
two personages or characters in history. 

Summary. — The study of models is an excellent mode of teach- 
ing style. The appeal is through the instinct of imitation. The 
models should be carefidly graded. 



OUTLINE 


OF A GRADED SERIES OF 


MODELS FOR COMPOSITION 


YEAR-HALF 


LETTERS 


DESCRIPTION 


NARRATION 


EXPOSITION 


4 — I St 


From pupil 


A single 


A single incident 


How a game 




to father. 


inanimate 


e. g., a fable 


is played 




mother, or 


object 








teacher 








4 — 2d 


From pupil 


A room 


A story contain- 


How some 




to fellow- 




ing several inci- 


simple article 




pupil 




dents leading to a 
climax 


is made 


S-ist 


Application 


A building 


A narrative de- 


How a lesson 




for a 


from two 


veloped through 


is conducted 




position 


points of 
view 


details 




S-2d 


Business 


A large scene 


A simple narra- 


How an in- 




letters 


— city or 


tive combined 


tricate school 






country 


with a descrip- 
tion of its setting 


manoeuvre is 
efltected 


6— I St 


Review of 


A person 


A simple narra- 


The explana- 




form of 




tive combined 


tion of a 




letters 




with a descrip- 
tion of its impor- 
tant personages 


term 


6— 2d 


Social corre- 


A large scene 


Narrative 


The compari- 




spondence 


combined 


studied with 


son of two 




Formal — In- 


with the de- 


reference to ap- 


terms 




formal 


scriptions of 
persons 


propriate intro- 
duction and 
conclusion 





CHAPTER XVI 
HOW THE MODEL IS TO BE USED 

It will be seen that the arrangement of the models in all 
branches of composition is such as to provide for a progression 
from the fourth year to the sixth. The question will naturally 
arise, — "What provision is to be made for the seventh and the 
eighth year? " That the model should be used in the last two 
years goes without saying. There is, however, to be a difference 
in the mode of treatment, and this difference is so marked, in 
other words, the method of teaching in the highest two grades 
is so different from that followed in the preceding three, that 
there will be no need of indicating the progression in difficulty 
of the model. 

In general, it may be said that in the fourth year the aim 
should be to imitate the model as such. The teacher should 
particularly call the attention of the class to the sequence of 
topics. The idea of the outHne, its function, and its value as a 
preparatory step to the writing of the composition itself should 
be shown. Moreover, by actual use, the teacher should show 
what a topic sentence is. It has been found of value to require 
occasionally that when the class prepares an outHne, every topic 
should be represented by a complete sentence. While the model 
is studied, the only aim should be the understanding of the 
model itself, with a view to intelligent imitation. The members 
of the class will note that at a later time they will be called upon 
to write an original composition in imitation of the model 
they are studying, but it is imnecessary that their attention 
should be divided by letting them know what the subject of that 
composition is to be, or even what general form it is to take. 



158 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

In the fifth year the study of the model may be with a view to 
guidance in the original work. That is to say, the subject for 
the original composition should be known to the class at the 
same time that they are studying the model. It will be im- 
necessary to go through the step of reproduction of the model 
in this year; for while the pupils are studying the model, since 
they already know the subject of the composition upon which 
they are to write, they are forming judgments as to how they 
must adapt the order of treatment of topics in the model, the 
development of these topics, and the choice of words, in order 
to give an effective treatment of their own subject. 

In the sixth year the teacher should interfere to as sHght an 
extent as possible in the work of model study. Children should 
form the topical outhne practically unaided, and by a few 
leading questions they may be called upon to speak of those 
features of the model which in their judgment are worthy of 
imitation, and which admit of adaptation to their own original 
work. In other words, there should be the beginning of an at- 
tempt to form a critical judgment on the part of the children. 

As a further suggestion, it may be said that in the first half of 
the fourth year, there should be, after the analysis of the model 
and the formation of the outHne, merely an oral reproduction 
of the model. It is perhaps too much to ask the children to 
attempt at once the difficult step of exact reproduction. They 
are in this work confronted with three difficulties. In the first 
place, they must follow the order of development as indicated in 
the model. Secondly, they are met with the difficulties of 
spelling, punctuation, and the use of correct EngUsh. In the 
third place, there is the difficulty of remembering and incorporat- 
ing into their own reproduction the exact words and phrases of 
the model. Throughout, there is a great strain upon the memory 
which may be exhausting to a child attempting this work for 
the first time. 

If we insist merely upon the oral reproduction of the. model, 



HOW THE MODEL IS TO BE USED 159 

we are accomplishing several things. In the first place, we are 
affording an opportunity for formal drill and exercise in oral 
composition. In the second place, we are relieving the children 
of the burden of paying attention to the spelling, the punctua- 
tion, the paragraphing, and the penmanship. And in the 
third place, we are creating a vital interest in the step of repro- 
duction. There is no more stimulating element in class work 
than the comparison of the work done by one member of the 
class before his classmates with what each classmate figures in 
his own mind would have been his own performance had he 
the opportunity to appear before the class. In this step, the 
children should be encouraged to adopt happy words or phrases 
from the model and to incorporate them bodily into their own 
oral work. In fact, it is not too early to initiate in this class the 
habit of keeping note-books in which the children will write 
words or phrases which the teacher commends as being par- 
ticularly apt and appropriate, and which could be used with 
advantage by the children in their composition work. 

In the second half of the fourth year, the step of written repro- 
duction may be introduced. The added difficulties of spelHng, 
paragraphing, punctuation, etc., it is true, will be no less than 
they would have been had this work been done in the first half 
of the year; but as has already been suggested, it is advisable to 
have the pupils accustomed to the idea of imitation of a model 
before they are called upon to imitate in writing. 

In the first half of the fifth year, it is unnecessary, as has 
already been suggested, to have the step of reproduction. Care 
should be taken that the subject chosen for the model may be 
closely similar to the subject of the first class composition based 
on the model. In this way it will be more easy for the children 
to incorporate words, phrases, and modes of treatment into 
their own work. 

In the second half of the fifth year the formal study may be 
concentrated on the study of letter-writing, while in the other 



i6o THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

branches of the composition work it may be found advisable to 
have the steps in the study of the model as brief as possible, so 
as to provide for as much original work as can be done in the 
allotted time. 

In the sixth year the plan of study should be Hke that adopted 
for the fifth. That is to say, the subject of the first composi- 
tion to be written by the children should be known to them at the 
time the model is presented. The step of reproduction may be 
omitted, but the attention of the children should be directed by 
the teacher not so much to the outline or to the sequence of 
topics as to the turns of phrases, the diction, and the structure 
of the sentence. Particularly should there be a careful study of 
what should be included in a single paragraph. Where English 
is not altogether a foreign language, it may be found advisable 
to classify paragraphs imder certain heads, as is done in the 
paragraph study of the high school. It is always a convenient 
thing to be able to refer to a form by name, even though it be 
technical, rather than by a long description. 

It is a mistake for the teacher to imagine that there should be 
but one model presented each term for each type of composition. 
She should select a number of the same general type for compara- 
tive study. These may be read at different parts of the period 
during which the study of the model is taken up, the aim being 
to furnish the children with many illustrations. The result will 
be that while there may be a general likeness in the nature of the 
reproduction made by the class, there will be some variety, since 
different pupils will select from the various models some one 
feature which they will add to the type model studied by all. 
Since in few cases will the judgment of two children exactly 
coincide, the work, being continually varied, will always be 
interesting. 

In the first half of the fourth year it will probably be found 
most advisable to take one complete lesson for the study of the 
model, another for the step of reproduction, a third for a com- 



HOW THE MODEL IS TO BE USED i6i 

position on a similar topic, and a fourth for correction. On the 
basis of two lessons in formal composition each week, it will be 
seen that it is possible to carry on the study of two models each 
month. The second may be selected from the reader or from a 
supplementary text book, or if the teacher so desire, from a 
regular book of models in EngKsh composition. It will be possi- 
ble to have the study of the second model and the oral reproduc- 
tion take place in one period, the writing of a similar composition 
in a second period, while the correction would occupy the third. 
The last composition period for the month could, therefore, be 
set aside for the writing of a test composition on a subject chosen 
by the teacher or selected by the pupils from a Kst presented by 
the teacher. It was been found valuable to carry on this plan 
of study throughout the fourth and the fifth years. 

In the sixth year, there may be less study of the model and 
more opportunity for original composition. In fact, even in the 
second half of the fifth year it may be found advisable to restrict 
the number of models studied to one each month, thus largely 
increasing the amount of original work that can be done by the 
children. 

It is suggested that in the first month of the term letters be 
studied; in the second, narration; in the third, exposition; in 
the fourth, description; while in the fifth, although there should 
be no model study, there might be a review of the models already 
studied so that the composition may be on such a subject as will 
involve description combined with narration through the dia- 
logue and the use of the direct quotation. 

Summary. — There should be a grading in the use of the model. 
Fourth year — Direct imitation of the model and development of 
an outline. 

ist Half — Oral reproduction of the model. 
2nd Half — Written reproduction of the model. 
Fifth year — Using the model for guidance, the step of direct 
imitation being omitted. 



1 62 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

ist Half — Study of selected words and phrases. 

2nd Half — Study of correct placing of parts of a letter. 
Sixth year — Formation of outline by pupils omitted. Children 
to exercise their own judgment in designating features of the model 
most worthy of imitation. 

ist Half — Study of paragraph unity. 

2nd Half — Study of sentence unity. 



CHAPTER XVII 
COMPOSITION (Continued) 

Letter Writing 

The quality most difficult to secure in pupils' letters is 
spontaneity; and this is but natural. For this very quality is 
one so elusive, so thoroughly identified with the interests of the 
children, so completely a form of pure self-expression, that it 
may be doubted whether a spontaneous effect can ever, through 
the teacher's efforts, be secured. If it is not present it cannot 
be forced. Originality cannot be taught. If, however, we can 
discover what are the restraints which make letters written by 
children in the grades of the elementary school so artificial and 
awkward, it might be possible, could we but remove the hamper- 
ing factors, to lend to this work, within the Hmit of the children's 
powers, the freedom, the grace, and the charm that characterize 
the correspondence of a Lowell, a Dodgson, or a Stevenson. 

The traditional demarcation between the life of books and the 
Ufe of the world finds its parallel in two entirely different forms 
of expression within the school. Just as there once was a belief 
(have we altogether outgrown it to-day?) that the form and the 
subject matter of written language should be as far removed as 
possible from the style and the content of everyday speech, so 
do our children in the schools unconsciously adopt, in their 
written work, a style as foreign to the natural form of the daily 
conversation as the subjects they choose for their compositions 
differ from the topics they discuss in their walks to and from 
school. Naturalness disappears as soon as they take pen in 
hand. They are on their best behavior, and strut about, so to 



1 64 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

speak, uncomfortably correct, stilted, unbending. Nowhere is 
this more apparent than in their correspondence, for it is here 
that since naturalness is the main desideratxmi, the lack of it 
becomes most painfully evident. The great task before the 
teacher, briefly speaking, is this: to remove as much as possible 
the barrier between free thinking and written expression. The 
latter should be made not only the natural but even the neces- 
sary outcome of the former. 

But how is this to be done? In the last few years great 
advance has been made in one direction. We have already 
referred to the fact that the subjects of compositions called for 
from the children are on live topics. We are coming more and 
more to realize that the logical sources of our composition work 
are not the pet theories of the teacher but the natural interests 
of the children. Little, therefore, need be said in this place 
regarding the choice of subjects. In the matter of form, however, 
the results have not been so satisfactory. Pupils have not 
attained the requisite facihty in using the language. Their 
attention is constantly wavering between what they wish to 
say and how they wish to say it. We must concentrate our 
efforts therefore on the matter of form itself, and what is more, 
on those very parts where unnaturalness most clearly shows 
itself; namely, in the opening and closing portions of the letter. 
A graceful exit from the room is no less difficult than a graceful 
close to a letter; but both can be taught. 

Even if we have secured a reasonable degree of ease in certain 
parts of the letter, we are confronted with a task, beside which 
the former becomes insignificant. The body of the letter may 
be made correct in outHne and in sequence but it is generally 
couched in language absolutely different from the colloquial 
usage of the children. Kipling's Judy in "Baa Baa, Black 
Sheep," is a good type of the priggishness that we meet with. 
Much of this we can reform if we are but careful to have the 
children write on topics within their natural interests. When 



LETTER WRITING 165 

this has been done, the rest of the cure lies in changing our 
method of using the models. 

There are certain Hmitations to be observed in the appHcation 
of the studio or laboratory method to the study of model letters. 
At this point we shall not go so far as to say dogmatically that 
these limitations are equally appHcable to the study of models 
of description, narration, and exposition. It is possible, however, 
that the principle upon which our criticism is founded may 
be basic although the mode of its interpretation may differ in 
the various forms of composition. In the present connection it 
will be sufficient to say that the change in the mode of study, 
which should be inaugurated with the seventh year, will be 
along the hne of the kind of study that is suggested here in 
connection with letter writing. 

It cannot be too often repeated that if we are to achieve any 
degree of success in our teaching, we must be careful to make 
the center of our method the natural interests of the pupils, 
and the lines of our methods their natural activities. What is 
our present mode of procedure? The teacher announces to 
the class that she intends to begin an exercise in composition. 
She begins the study of a model which may or may not treat 
of a topic closely akin to the pupils' interests. In other words, 
she chokes originality by the first step of her method. She 
places the thought and work of another between the thought 
of the pupils and its adequate expression. It is true that this 
method insures the production of exercises of a definite form. 
The improvement over the former rambling, incoherent, chaotic 
composition is so great that we must recognize the benefit 
accruing from the study of models. But cannot these advan- 
tages be secured without spreading a deadening influence over 
the work of the pupils? What wonder is it that the letters are 
lifeless? At no time is opportunity afforded for the absolutely 
free thinking of the pupils. We make a strong appeal to their 
imitative faculty, and yet we wonder why the imitation is 



1 66 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

not original. The method involves an inherent contradiction. 
We study the model only so as to insure accuracy of form, yet 
we plan the time for such study so that we mold not only the 
form but the content as well. 

In favor of the method here suggested, certain arguments 
may be presented. It will be noted that it springs from the 
natural interests of the children. Its successive steps are 
responses to demands arising from the children's needs. At 
the outset no attempt is made to consider form. Since the 
quantity of attention at any moment is limited, if we are to 
permit and to encourage the free expression of thought, there 
must be no check on the pupil's thinking. No model is to be 
presented nor should anything be said by the teacher which 
will divert attention from the matter at hand; namely, the free 
expression of individual thinking. 

The topic of the letter may be selected from the work of 
the class, provided there is something so interesting that the 
children feel a desire to communicate their experiences to 
others. Suggestions as to what these topics should be, if we 
are to provide for a gradual increase in difl&culty, have already 
been made in our analysis of models for letter writing. It is 
to be remembered that all hints which have already been given 
as to the method of studying the models in the class apply to 
the other forms of composition writing, and not to letter writing. 
The modification that is here introduced is for the purpose of 
securing the spontaneity which, as has already been explained, 
is so vital a part of successful work. 

Subjects should be concrete and specific, not a general account 
of progress in school work, except perhaps at the close of the 
term when the amount of ground covered and the readiness for 
promotion are prominent factors in the child's thinking about 
school affairs. By concrete and specific subjects are meant, 
such as an account of an interesting experiment in physics; 
the experiences of the children in class room gardening; a 



LETTER WRITING 167 

report on an interesting discussion in history or geography; 
how a difficult problem in arithmetic was solved, let us say, 
by only one member of the class; how the district athletic 
meet or the school athletic meet was decided; the writer's 
opinion of a book or a story read in the class-room, together 
with advice to read the same story if the letter is written to a 
classmate; or a request for the title of a similar book if the 
letter is written to a teacher. A little thought will develop 
many similar subjects. After a holiday of any sort, the letter 
may be written on how the day was spent. A long vacation 
gives opportunity for writing descriptions of places or of people, 
or narrations of various kinds. 

The teacher here should always be on guard to see that the 
pupils are treating of real and not of imaginary experiences. 
A simple warning to the class should be siifficient to prevent 
romancing. It is of no value to have the child write on the 
subject, "How I Spent my Vacation," or any other similar 
topic of a general nature. Let the subject be definite and to 
the point, and have the children select some incident interest- 
ing to themselves, and likely to be interesting to others, which 
will admit of expansion. A successful letter is detailed and 
intimate. 

With a subject properly chosen, the most difficult part of the 
teacher's work is done. The next step to take in order to get 
the effect of reahsm is to provide some system of actual cor- 
respondence. Members of one division of a sixth year class, 
for example, may write to the children of a different division. 
If a letter of invitation is to be written, the many athletic 
contests between different schools may be made the occasion 
of a real correspondence. A fifth year class may invite a class 
of another school to be present at the game, and as incentive, 
the teacher may announce that the best letter will actually be 
sent. Surely, principals in the same or in different districts 
may arrange some plan of correspondence by schools. If a 



1 68 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

book is to be bought for the class hbrary, why should not the 
children be called upon to write the letter? Once more, the 
best letter could be sent, and when the book is received, a letter 
of receipt and acknowledgment may be composed. 

It must be remembered that with a real motive there will be 
far better results than if the work is done in a perfimctory 
way. Have the pupils of one class write to individual pupils 
of another class. The letters may be enclosed in regular enve- 
lopes and sent through the regular mail box of the school. Where 
there is an interchange of letters by the pupils of different 
schools, the teacher of the corresponding classes should be fur- 
nished with a list of the register together with the addresses of 
the boys of the other class. This will give an intimate tone to 
the letter. If there has been a lecture or an entertainment of 
any sort in the school, let the class write to the lecturer. All 
challenges between classes should be made through the medium 
of regular letters written as a class exercise. In sending to 
the National or the State government for any material which 
the class may need for its work in geography or in nature study, 
write the letter as a class exercise. 

Practice should be given in addressing envelopes. For this 
purpose, paper cut down to the right size will answer the pur- 
pose of the real envelopes and will be much more economical. 
A great deal of this informal letter writing can be done before 
nine o'clock, or at home, and in this way the regularly planned 
work in letter writing will not be seriously interfered with. 

By the choice of the proper subject and a knowledge of the 
practical end which the letter is to serve, the teacher should 
have brought the class to a state where it is eager to get to work; 
but we are still far from the actual composition of the letter. 
The next step in the lesson should be the conversation between 
the teacher and class for the purpose of bringing out what the 
letter should contain. As the important points are given by 
different members of the class, pupils may go to the blackboard 



LETTER WRITING 169 

and briefly write out their own contributions. The minds of 
the children are now keenly alive, and no attention should be 
wasted on order or form. What we are here developing is really 
the body of the letter; five minutes should be sufficient to bring 
out all that is necessary for the exercise. Then the attention 
of the class should be directed to the list of topics on the black- 
board, and another five minutes should be given to enable the 
class so to number the statements that the sequence of ideas 
will be orderly and definite. 

The remaining part of the period should be devoted to the 
writing of the letter. It is assumed that even in the lowest 
grade, that is, in the first half of the fourth year, the mechanical 
placing of the different parts of the letter has been taught. 
The ordinary composition paper is not to be used in this exer- 
cise at all. As soon as possible the ruled margin should be 
dispensed with. The teacher should get paper of foolscap 
size and cut it down to the proportions of ordinary note paper. 

Up to this point, we have had free thought and free expres- 
sion. The letter will show many errors, the style may not be 
fitted to the general tone of the letter, the opening and the clos- 
ing of the letter may be models of what should be avoided, but 
at all events we have the pupil's own work, the expression of his 
own ideas. It may be well to use the few minutes at the end 
of the period for pupils to read their letters to the class. Those 
should be selected who have acquitted themselves most cred- 
itably in earlier composition work, so that the right to read 
the composition comes to be recognized as a reward given for 
good work. 

At the second lesson, which should occur within the same 
week as the period devoted to the first composition of the letter, 
the pupils should take their letters from the envelopes in which 
all their written compositions are kept, and now for the first 
time, the model is presented to the class. The general principle 
for study is that the model shall be considered, not for purposes 



lyo THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

of slavish imitation from the very beginning, but only for com- 
parison and correction. 

There are three points to which the attention of the class is 
to be directed. In the first place, there should be comparison 
with the model for the purpose of detecting errors in the mechan- 
ical placing of the various parts. Is the heading right? Are 
the punctuation marks properly used? Do paragraphs begin as 
they should? — etc. It will therefore be seen that the model 
which is presented to the child should be carefully prepared, 
and that it should be correct in all small matters of form. 

A second study of the model should center on the introduction 
and the conclusion. Continued study of letters will show that 
the importance of the introduction decreases in proportion as 
the tone of the letter becomes more and more informal. Here, 
as with all study of the models, it should be remembered that 
it is not sufficient to have only one model presented to the 
children. Types of various kinds of openings and endings may 
be shown and wherever the pupils make corrections in their 
work, these should be made with the view of imitating not the 
words of the model but the spirit. 

Finally, the model should be studied with the closest atten- 
tion to the body of the letter. If what has been said regarding 
the choice of models has been followed, the letter in the hands 
of the pupils should have been so chosen that it deals with a 
subject allied to that on which they have already written. 
The rest of the period should be devoted to a description of 
the merits of the model. Different children should be called 
upon to read what they have written, and class criticism should 
follow. Some pupils should be called upon to write their letter 
on the blackboard, and the entire class should turn itself to the 
correction of the work. Finally, the lesson should be concluded 
with about ten minutes devoted to personal correction. Each 
child revises his own work, so that while it shall still preserve 
his own thought, it will be made as nearly as possible like the 



LETTER WRITING 171 

model in form. During this concluding portion of the period, 
the teacher may walk around the room and by judiciously 
scattering her criticism, may manage to reach practically every 
member of the class, directly or indirectly, with at least one 
point of suggestion. 

It may be objected that children in the lower classes can not 
be called upon to exercise the critical faculty which apparently 
is demanded in this method. It should be remembered, how- 
ever, that at the beginning all the work is carried on under the 
immediate guidance and supervision of the teacher. Surely, 
we are asking no more of the children than we demand of them 
in a proper appreciation of the model. We have eliminated 
an uninteresting reproduction of the model, and we have kept 
close to the child's own interest. At no time has the model 
been studied purely for form. The motive for the study has 
been fmrnished in the desire on the part of the pupil to find out 
how he may improve his own work. At the same moment that 
he sees his faults, there is before him a model which shows him 
a correct form. 

The lesson is completed in a third period when the letter is 
written, ready for sending. The teacher should be careful that 
instruction is given as to the proper folding of the letter, the 
addressing of the envelope, and the placing of the stamp. 
Since these are purely formal elements, they should be made 
part of a separate lesson, and the class should use either real 
envelopes or else paper cut down to the proper size. 

A number of suggested models are here given. In the selec- 
tion of other letters to be read by the teacher to the class, 
care should be taken that there is a progressive advance in the 
models. Even in the higher grades, models which are too long 
should be avoided. It would perhaps be too much to say that 
no models should be used exceeding in length the letters we 
demand from the children. It may be safer to say that the 
limit should be the power of the children to retain a unitary 



172 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

impression of the letter while still carrying on the process of 
analysis. If the model is too long, the pupils think of it not as 
a letter but as an agglomeration of parts. In the lower grades, 
if any extreme is to be touched it should be on the side of over- 
simplicity. 

Letters should be short, and care should be taken with the 
writing. It is never too early to impress on children the truth 
that a carelessly written letter is an affront offered to the reader. 
In our letters we talk to our friends, and if we are slovenly in 
our writing, we might as well call on them, untidy in appear- 
ance. It should be remembered that though correlation of the 
topics of the letters with the work of the class is desirable, 
such a relationship should be made only when we are sure of 
the children's interest in the topic. Only in a few cases do the 
models here given show the heading, and frequently they do 
not give the salutation. These are purely formal elements, and 
while the motive for the study of these forms should come 
through the desire of the children to write letters, there is no 
reason why these subjects should not be taken up as early as 
the third year when the children are copying letters from black- 
board or from text book. The more complicated forms of 
headings may be taught in the later grades, but in general, the 
plan should be the same; salutations, headings, and subscrip- 
tions are all formal elements and should be focalized upon by 
the teacher in the course of the regular work. Some suggestions 
as to the technique of letter writing are given here although it 
will be found best to refer to some regular text book in the 
writing of English. 

The heading of a letter gives us two separate pieces of informa- 
tion. First, it shows the place from which the letter is sent. 
Secondly, the time at which the letter is written. These should 
be kept distinct. In the third year, the first lessons in letter 
writing may be given. These should not be allowed to degen- 
erate into mere exercises in penmanship. When the model has 



LETTER WRITING 173 

first been copied by the children, the letter may at a later 
period be dictated by the teacher, who should at all times call 
the attention of the class to the placing of the parts, the capi- 
tahzation, the paragraphing, and the punctuation. After a few 
lessons the dictation may become less definite. For example, 
— "We are going to write from a house at 258 East 56th St. 
Write the place and the date. This letter is to be written to 
your cousin." The child's memory and knowledge of form 
should help him to fill in the gaps. Before the first letter is 
written, there should be exercise and drill on headings and salu- 
tations apart from the letter itself. Examples of these letters 
used as models in the third year are given here. In the first 
half of the year the model may be limited to one paragraph. 
In the second half, it may contain two. 

Third Year — First Half 
Dear Cousin, 

Did you watch at the window this morning? I almost 
cried when I saw the rain and knew I could not go to your 
house. Will you be home next Saturday? Love and kisses 
to all. 

Dear Harry, 

You ought to see how the beans I planted have grown. 
Did you ever plant any? The onion that you saw is all 
dried up. Can you tell me why? 

Dear Friend, 

When you did not come last week I thought you were 
sick. Why did you not write me a letter? I waited for 
you all day. When shall you be in New York again? 

Dear Frank, 

What fun we had in school to-day! A boy brought a 
rabbit and we gave it green leaves to eat. Did you ever 
see a gray rabbit? I saw one yesterday. 



174 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

Dear Mother, 

We have had a fine time this week. I went driving 
with Uncle John and the horses went so fast I was fright- 
ened. But Uncle only laughed at me. When will you 
come here? I pray for you every night. 

Third Year — Second Half 

Dear Father, 

The books which you sent me came here this morning. 
Thank you very much for them. 

It has been raining since two o'clock. As I could not 
go out I looked at the books. I did not read any but I 
think I shall like tljpm. Will you come here soon? 

Dear Friend, 

How does it feel to be ten years old? I have been 
that age for two months and I feel just the same. I wish 
you many more happy years. 

Please write me soon and tell me what kind of birth- 
day party you had. Did you receive many presents? 
Don't you wish birthdays came every week instead of every 
year? 

Dear Mr. Brown, 

Papa told me this morning that you had sent me the 
beautiful sled which I found near my bed when I got up. 
I want to thank you very much for it. It is beautiful. 

I hope it will snow soon so that I can use the sled. The 
first time I take it out I am going to give my little brother 
a ride because his first name is the same as yours. 

Dear Frank, 

We began a new story in the class yesterday. I like 
it very much and think you will like it too. The name of 
the story is, "At the Back of the North Wind." 

Our teacher reads to us and we all sit and listen. If 
your mother reads it to you, you can make beheve you 



LETTER WRITING 175 

are in school even though you are sick. I hope you will 
get well soon. 

Dear Rose, 

Mamma is going to let me have a real doll-party next 
Saturday. 

Will you come early and bring your best doll with you? 
I want you to come early because I need you to help me to 
fix some things for the other girls. 

Up to this point there has been no original composition work 
by the children. They have merely copied the letters, or written 
them from dictation. In the fourth year, the regular study of 
the model according to the method already suggested is to begin. 
It will be noted that in the model for the first half of the fourth 
year the name of the city is written on a separate line. While 
this form will at once be recognized as different from that con- 
ventionally used, there is no reason why it should not be adopted 
in the schools. To a great extent of course, convention will 
determine usage; and yet it should be one of the functions 
of the school to try to introduce reform. If we are writing to 
some one in the city, the words "New York" may be omitted, 
and then a comma is placed after the word ''Street." Other- 
wise, as will be seen, no punctuation separates the two 
lines forming the address in the heading. It is probably 
better not to use abbreviations. The date should be writ- 
ten as a cardinal not as an ordinal number. The three lines 
forming the heading should be so arranged that they end flush 
at the right hand side of the page. In the salutation, the 
comma may be used in informal letters, and the colon in 
formal letters. 

The teacher should call the attention of the class to the 
capitalization in the following forms: Dear Father, Dear Friend, 
Dear Uncle John, My dear Frank, My dear Mr. Brown. The 
form, Dear friend John has been called by some authorities 



176 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

not a true English idiom, and should be avoided; instead, use 
either Dear Friend or Dear John. 

The forms of conclusion should be taught at the same time 
that the salutations are studied, so as to impress on the class 
the fact that certain salutations carry with them inevitably 
certain forms of subscription. The rule, and it is without excep- 
tion, is that only the first word of the subscription is written 
with a capital. The model advisedly gives the full name of 
the writer even in a letter written to the father. It is a good 
thing to impress on the children the business-like habit of placing 
their name in full at the close of a letter. The more informal 
closings will come naturally to them, and need form no part of 
the instruction in the school. 

It will also be noted that an effort has been made to do away 
with the usual participial phrase which from time immemorial 
has been the closing part of a letter. The object is to avoid 
the indiscriminate "By so doing you will obHge," form, which 
constitutes a humorous element in many school letters. It is 
not intended that the participial phrase shall never be used. 
The aim is to teach that there are other ways of closing a letter. 

In the study of the model for the first half of the fifth year, 
the teacher should impress on the class that it is bad form to 
sound one's praises too much in an application for a position. 
Furthermore, wherever possible, a specific reason for seeking a 
position should be given. The second sentence of the first 
paragraph does this. Call the attention of the class also to the 
brevity, the directness, and the general business-like character 
of the letter. Business men like directness. Many a man 
writes a long letter because he has not the time to write a short 
one. Explain this to the class. 

In addition to the models that are to be studied, others, 
which may be read by the teacher to the class are also given. 



LETTER WRITING 177 

Fourth Year — First Half 

108 Broome Street, New York, 

^ „ , March 3, loi^. 

Dear Father, ^' ^ ^ 

You are so far away that I am afraid you didn't hear 
the good news. Both Bobbie and I are going to be pro- 
moted. 

Miss Brown says a few other boys and I are to try the 
5A class. Won't that be splendid? 

Mother is very much pleased. She says she has a 
pleasant surprise for me when you come home. So please 
hurry with that business and take the fastest train you can 

^^' Your loving son, 

Charles Price. 
My dear Miss Brown, 

The stories about Hiawatha that you read to us are 
very interesting. I was always sorry when you finished. 

Will you please send me the names of other books in 
which I can read about the rest of Hiawatha's life? I en- 
close a stamp. I hope I am not troubling you too much. 

Your affectionate pupil, 
My dear Miss Brown, 

I have been very sick for three weeks and I do not 
think I can come back to school for a month. 

If I am not asking too much will you please send me 

the names of some good books to read? It is very lonely 

here sometimes. I should like some book like "Alice in 

Wonderland." ^^ «• ^. ^ 1 

Yours affectionately, 

Dear Frank, 

Our school is going to play PubHc School 76 a game 
of basketball next Friday afternoon. The game will take 
place in our g3Tnnasium at half-past three o'clock. 

Will you ask your mother whether you may come? 
Mamma says you are to stay with us for supper and Tom 
will take you home. Please write soon saying that you 
will come. Yours truly. 



178 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

Good Ground, L.I., 

July 8, 1913. 

Dear Mother, 

We arrived here at ten o'clock this morning. It was 

very dusty on the trains. I looked as black as coal when 

I reached the house. 

In the afternoon I went with Fred to the field and 

watched the men digging potatoes. The earth has a very 

pleasant smeU. We saw a great nimiber of worms. Love 

to all. ^^ „ . 

Your anectionate son, 

Dear Uncle, 

Promotion time is almost here and all the boys are 
excited. Next week we shall be examined by the Prin- 
cipal. 

I think I shall be promoted. I have always had "A" 

on my report cards. That means "Excellent" you know. 

But I am going to make sure and I shall do my best next 

week. Love to Aunt Mary. ^^ , . 

Your loving nephew, 

Fourth Year — Second Half 

108 Broome Street, New York, 
March 3, 19 14. 
Dear Harry, 

Bobbie told me this morning that you are in bed with 
a heavy cold. I am very sorry. I hope the doctor is 
not making you take some awful medicine. 

The class exercises were very successful. The song 
went splendidly, although we missed your voice. Every- 
body was very much pleased with the Indian Club drill. 

Do not worry about the lessons. I'll copy the spell- 
ing for you and help you out with any new arithmetic we 

have. c- 1 

Smcerely yours, 

Charles Price. 



LETTER WRITING 179 

Fewer models are added here to be read by the teacher to 
the class since it should be the aim to devote more time to the 
study of the outline. 

438 Second Avenue. 
My dear Fred, 

The boys of our class are to play a game of football 
with the team from Class 5A on Saturday next. If you 
want to have a good time, see the game. 

Please do not say you are too busy. If you Kke, I 

will call for you on my way to Central Park, where the 

game wOl take place. ,^ 

Yours as ever, 

November 18, 1914. 

Dear Harry, 

Why must your class have a football game on the 
same day that our class is going to the Aquarimn? We 
have been planning our trip for several weeks, and I am 
afraid I cannot go with you to the Park. 

If it rains on Saturday I suppose your game will be 

postponed; then I shall wait for you until half-past nine. 

Do not fail to come with us if you do not go to the game. 

I have spoken to Miss Brown, my teacher, about you, and 

she wUl be very glad to have you come. 

Yours, 

Dear Uncle, 

We have just received our report cards for the month, 
and I thought you would be glad to hear that I received 
"A" in my work. You know this is the first time my 
card had nothing but "A" on it. 

I find that my lessons are not so difi&cult as I thought 
they would be. I have plenty of time to play and still do 
my written work very neatly. Love and kisses from all. 

Your afiectioiiate nephew, 



i8o THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

Fifth Year — First Half 

The indention used in the model in these cases should be 
carefully followed. Further, it will be noted that when the 
salutation takes the pen well across the page, the words "Dear 
Sir" are written not under the state or city name, but well 
over to the left at the margin. If this is not done the letter 
will look patchy, with but one word at times on the first line 
of the body of the letter. 

io8 Broome Street, New York, 
March 3, 1913. 
Messrs. Abraham & Strauss, 

Fulton Street, Brooklyn, N.Y. 
Gentlemen, 

I am a graduate of PubKc School 20, and I am anxious 
to secure employment in some good house. I respect- 
fully make application for a position with your firm in 
order to gain a thorough knowledge of the dry goods trade. 
I am fourteen years of age and I can furnish recom- 
mendations from Mr. Brown, the Principal of Public 
School 20, from which I was graduated last February. 

Very respectfully, 
John Mason. 

Models to be read by the Teacher 

Dear Frank, 

I have just returned from my first ride in the Subway, 
and I am sure you will like to know what I think of it. 

The cars run under groimd and are therefore Lighted 
all the time. They look bright and clean and all the metal 
work sparkles as if it were just polished. 

The trains move very quickly, but except for the sta- 
tions nothing can be seen. I tried to look out of the win- 
dow, but my eyes hurt because of the pUlars which are 
close together and very near the tracks. 



LETTER WRITING i8i 

At first I thought the noise was going to give me a 
headache. But in a few minutes I became used to the 
rumble and did not mind it. 

I hope you will come to the city soon, so that we can 
take a ride together, the whole length of the Subway. 

Yours very truly, 
Dear Tom, 

You ought to see the new picture my mother bought 
and hung up in my room! It is beautiful. I am afraid 
I cannot study my lessons at my desk any more. I always 
want to look at the picture. 

I do not know who the painter is, but the name of the 
picture is "The Storm." It shows a Uttle fishing vessel out 
on the ocean. The waves are higher than the boat and all 
white with foam. I think there must have been a terrible 
storm, as the sky is black with clouds, and the rain is fall- 
ing heavily. 

Do you remember a poem by Longfellow about a 
boat wrecked in a storm? I tried to think of the name 
but I could not recall it. We read it one day last summer 
when it was raining so hard that we could not play. If 
you know what poem I mean please send me the name, as 
I wish to read the story while I sit in front of my new pic- 

Yours very truly, 

Dear Mother,- 

I am a real cook! When I come home I am going to 
put on an apron and do all the work in the kitchen. Do 
you want to know what I made? I want to tell you, so I 
hope you will say "Yes" to my question. 

It was raining yesterday, and Miss Brown, who always 
shows us new games, asked us would we hke to make 
"fudge." Of course we all shouted "Yes!" Then we went 
to the kitchen, and what fun we had! 

We took about two cupfuls of sugar, a cup of milk 
and a lump of butter about the size of an egg. We put aU 
into a pot together with seven teaspoonfuls of cocoa, and 



l82 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

placed the pot on the stove. I did not help in this. But 
when the mixture began to boil I had to stir it for about 
a quarter of an hour. How my arms ached! And I had 
to stand so close to the stove that my face was red as fire. 

When my work was through, Mary beat the brown stuff 
a little and poured it into a buttered platter. As soon as 
it began to cool Miss Brown cut it into httle squares. 

Then we all went into the parlor, and in about half an 
hour, while we were singing, Miss Brown brought in the 
platter, and we had a grand feast of "fudge." I wish I 
could send you some, but it was so good that every piece 
was eaten up, even the crumbs. 

Your affectionate daughter, 
Dear Father, 

I think when you get back to New York you will be 
most surprised to see the pohcemen on horseback through- 
out the city. 

Yesterday I went to Broadway with Jack. I saw one 
of the pohcemen at Herald Square. His horse was very 
beautiful, and the officer had a pretty cap instead of a hel- 
met. 

I saw an automobile try to go down Broadway. The 
officer motioned to the man, who then turned down Thirty- 
fourth Street. Jack told me they do this so that the people 
who get off the cars can cross the street safely. 

I am feeling well, only I hope you will soon come 

back to 

Your loving son, 

Fifth Year — Second Halp 

io8 Broome Street, New York, 
March 3, 1914. 
Houghton, Mifplin and Co., 

85 Fifth Ave., New York. 
Gentlemen, 

Please send me, by Adams Express, as soon as possible, 
the following: 



LETTER WRITING 183 

2 doz. Smith's Intermediate Arithmetic. 

3 copies Longfellow's Poems, Household Edition, cloth. 
I doz. Whittier Leaflets. 

1 set Little Classics, 16 voliimes, green cloth. 

2 copies Uncle Tom's Cabin. Popidar Edition, cloth. 
When you forward, please notify me by letter, enclos- 
ing invoice. 

Yours respectfully, 

Edward Reade. 

Models to be read by the Teacher 

D. C. Heath & Co., 

Gentlemen, 

Please let me know how much it will cost to get by 
mail a copy of Heath's Fourth Reader. Enclosed please 
find stamp for reply. 

I hope you will quote your lowest price, as I wish to 
present the book to a society of which I am a member. 

Yours truly, 
D. C. Heath & Co., 
Gentlemen, 

I am very sorry that I must trouble you about such 
a little thing as one copy of a book. But the Heath's 
Fourth Reader which you sent is soiled at page 38, and I 
should like to have a clean copy. 

I hope I am not causing much trouble. 

Yours respectfully, 

The Preshjent, 

Lincoln Literary Society. 
Dear Sir, 

I have been requested, as Secretary of the "Lowell 
Reading Circle," to invite your society to be present at 
our next meeting, Friday, December i6th, at half -past 
three. 

We hold our meetings in Room 38, and are anxious 
to have our friends who belong to other societies in the 



1 84 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

school see what we are doing. I hope your society will 
find it possible to be present. 

Sincerely yours, 

Henry Franklin, 
Secretary. 

In the sixth year the two models which are suggested consti- 
tute a communication together with the reply. In the model 
presented for the second half of the year, we have given the only 
type of formal letter in the third person which can come within 
the experience of an average class of boys. It is absolutely 
necessary to make these letters real by associating the writing 
with some actual event in school life. 

Sixth Year — First Half 

Public School 34, 108 Broome Street, 
February 13, 1914. 
The President, 

Perseverance Club. 
Dear Sir, 

At the last meeting of the Everonward Club, upon a 
vote taken by its members, the Secretary was instructed 
to communicate with the proper official of the Persever- 
ance Club, challenging it to a debate. 

I hereby challenge the club to a debate, the conditions 
to be decided upon by joint committees appointed by each 
club. 

We suggest that the debate be held in the Assembly 
HaU on Friday afternoon and prefer that three debaters 
be on each side. 

We hope that the challenge will be accepted. 

Sincerely yours, 

George Smith, 
Secretary. 



LETTER WRITING 185 

Public School 34, 108 Broome Street, 
February 23, 1914. 
The Secretary, 

EVERONWARD ClUB. 

Dear Sir, 

I hasten to acknowledge the receipt of your commimi- 
cation of the 13th inviting us to meet your club in joint 
debate. 

After placing the motion before the club at its meet- 
ing last week, we decided imanimously to accept your offer. 

A committee has already been appointed which will 

meet someone designated by you at any future date you 

may select. _^ 

Yours smcerely, 

Jacob Weiss, 

Secretary. 

The members of the Everonward Club extend to you 

and yoxu: friends a cordial invitation to be present at their 

joint debate with the Perseverance Club of 6B, to be held 

in the Assembly HaU of Pubhc School 34, on the afternoon 

of Friday, March eighteenth, nineteen hvmdred fourteen, 

at three o'clock, ^ ^ 

Jacob Reich, 

■» ;r -rr Secretarv. 

Morris Kline, 

President. 

Since the larger part of the letter writing of this year includes 
business communications, applications for positions, and the 
like, there is no attempt made to give supplementary models. 
These may be foimd in any of the text books on grammar or 
composition. 

In the seventh and eighth years the letter writing should of 
course be much more difficult and advanced. As has already 
been suggested, at this point an effort should be made to secure 
variety and naturalness in the opening and the closing of the 



1 86 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

letter. Care should be taken that the models here presented 
are used accordmg to the method described. That is to say, 
there should first be free writing by the children themselves. 
• No attempt is made in our presentation of the models to pre- 
serve the form of a letter. The correct placing of the parts 
should have been taught in the earlier classes. It will be noticed 
furthermore that we have for the most part used selections from 
standard authors. A good epistolary style is an accomplish- 
ment entirely apart from a generally good literary style, and 
the former is much more rare than the latter. The teacher's 
own reading will supply her with many more illustrations than 
are here given. 

Models of Openings of Letters 

Many thanks for your letter. It rejoiced me to hear that the 
dinner over which you presided was a success, as it ought to have 
been with you at the head of the table. It made me wish I could 
have been there; but I was quite right in staying at home, where I 
had a good deal to keep me. 

— Oliver Wendell Holmes, February 26, 1878. 

I always find myself in a little hurry when I sit down to write 
— partly because I am generally pretty busy, and partly because 
I always put off writing on purpose as nearly as I can to the time of 
the packet's leaving. 

— Oliver Wendell Holmes, Paris, October 22, 1833. 

I am unwilling to let the packet go without taking advantage 
of it, and I shall therefore send you a few fines, the principal object 
of which is to let you know that I am weU, and to inquire again why 
I hear nothing from you. If the post has done its duty you have 
received more than a dozen letters from me, and I have not had 
the shadow of an answer. ... If I could only have news from home 
I should be perfectly contented. 

— Oliver Wendell Holmes, Paris, September 28, 1833. 



LETTER WRITING 187 

I begin this letter, as I have all of late, with a complaint of not 
receiving letters. I cannot suppose but that you write, and am en- 
tirely imable to understand why I hear nothing from you. Although 
I go on the principle of not worrying myself, I confess it is not com- 
fortable to be so long without one word from home. 

— Oliver Wendell Holmes, Paris, August 30, 1833. 

You told me that I need not read the book which you have sent 
me, and for which I cordially thank you; but you did not tell me 
I must not read it. Now I have read it, every word of it, and I 
wish to say to you that I have had too much pleasure in reading it 
to be denied the privilege of telUng you how I have enjoyed it. 

— Oliver Wendell Holmes, December 8, 1869. 

You cannot imagine how delightful it is out here. The greatest 
miiltitude of birds of every description I recollect ever to have seen. 
The grass is fast growing green under the kind sun of spring. Every 
day that the sun shines I take my book and go out to a bank in our 
garden and he and read. 

— /. R. Lowell, Cambridge, April 14, 1837. 

I have no particular reason for dating this letter as I have, 
except that i8th sounds as weU as anything else, for I have no idea 
of the true day of the month. Since I have been in Italy I have 
cared nothing about calendars. 

— /. R. Lowell, Naples, April 18, 1856. 

No greeting could go to my heart straighter than yours, and yet 
I have let all these days sh'p by without returning it — not a day, 
though, without thinking of you, and meaning to write. 

— J. R. Lowell, Cambridge, September 18, 1836. 

Thank you for your letters — especially that from among the 
dear old Adirondacks. Though written in pencil, it did my heart 
more good than my eyes harm — only it made me homesick. 

— /. R. Lowell, Cambridge, October 28, 1857. 



1 88 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

You see by my date that I am back again in the place I love 
best. I am sitting in my old garret, at my old desk, loving my old 

— /. R. Lowell, Elmwood, March ii, 1861. 

I hope you will come hither as early as you can, for it wiU be 
vacation, and I can see more of you. And I want you to see my 
trees with the leaves on — especially my English elms. I hope by 
the middle of August our worst heats will be over, for they begin 
early this year. As I write the thermometer is 92 degrees. 

— /. R. Lowell, Elmwood, July 18, 1870. 

Parting with you was like sajdng good-by to sunshine. After 
I got home, my study looked bare, and my old cronies on the shelves 
could not make up to me for my old loss. I sat with my book on 
my knee and mused with a queer feeling about my eyeUds now and 
then, 

— /. R. Lowell, to Thomas Hughes, Elmwood, October 18, 1870. 

I have been so busy lately with doing nothing (which on the 
whole demands more time, patience and attention than any other 
business) that I have failed to answer your very pleasant letter of 
I don't know how long ago. 

— J. R. Lowell, Paris, May 28, 1873. 

I have suspended my thermometer outside of the window; and, 
looking at it a moment ago, I perceive that it is polar weather out of 
doors. Really, an excursion into the country is not to be thought 
of in this first fierceness of the winter. So pray do not expect me 
to-morrow. 

— Hawthorne to LongfeUow, Boston, November 30, 1840. 

I have been looking for a letter from you every day. Why don't 
you drop me a line? It would be particularly cheering just now. I 
have not been out of the house since you left here. Having been 
much indisposed by a cold, I am at the mercy of every breath of 
air that blows. 

— Washington Irving, 



LETTER WRITING 189 

Models of Closing of Letters 

Well, as I said, I must be off to the hospital and try to find some- 
thing more interesting for the next time. Love to aU. 

— Oliver Wendell Holmes, London, July 25, 1834. 

I shall stop. My letters are crisp, and snap short off. I shall 
stop, first because I must breakfast, and, second, because I have a 
milHon of things to do afterwards. Give my love to aU, and excuse 
me for hurrying to the Cafe Procope. 

— Oliver Wendell Holmes, Paris, November 29, 1833. 

I am at my wit's, paper's, and daylight's end, and am, as al- 



ways. 



Your 



T R T 

(Cambridge, June 12, i860.) 

"I am holding 'good-by' at arm's length as long as I can, but I 
must come to it. Give my kindest regards to Rawlins, and take all 
my heart yourself. God bless you. A pleasant voyage, and all well 
in the nest when you get back to it. 

Always most affectionately yours, 
J. R. Lowell. 
(To Thomas Hughes, October 18, 1870.) 

The following examples of conclusions from Mendelssohn's 
letters to Moscheles are taken from "Studies in English Com- 
position," Keeler & Davis (AUjoi & Bacon), 1897. 

May we meet in health and happiness, and may you be as kindly 
disposed as ever, to ^ 

And now farewell and fare ever well. ^^ 

Yours, 

My best wishes accompany you on what I trust will be a happy 

and pleasant journey. _^ 

Yours ever, 



ipo , THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

And trusting you will preserve a kind remembrance of me, I 

remain, ,, , . , 

Yours most smcerely. 

My love to Emily and Serena, and may you and Moscheles be as 
well and as happy as I wish you to be. 

For to-day, good-by. And more thanks and — hurrah, you are 

coming! „ 

Ever yours, 



Letters and Bodies of Letters 

We had, last night, an old-fashioned northeast snowstorm, far 
worse than anything in the winter; and the drifts are now very high 
above the fences. The inhabitants are pretty much confined to 
their houses. AU houses are one color, white, with the snow plas- 
tered over them, and you cannot tell whether they have blinds or 
not. Our pump has another pump, its ghost, as thick as itself, stick- 
ing to one side of it. 

— Henry D. Thoreau, Concord, March 22, 1861. 

My dear Sir: 

I expect to sail for England in the Baltic on Saturday next; and 
although my stay will probably be quite brief, I am desirous of see- 
ing Mr. Rogers. Will you give me a line to him and any other friend 
in England whom it would be pleasant for me to see, and oblige, 
Yours ever, truly and respectfully, 

Henry T. Tuckeeman. 

We had a very quick passage to Albany, where we arrived at 
three o'clock on Thursday morning. I was unwell almost the whole 
time, and coiild not sleep either night. We left Albany about an 
hour after we arrived there, in a wagon, and reached Johnstown 
between ten and eleven in the evening. The roads were fine, being 
turnpike almost the whole way; but I was so weak that it was sev- 



LETTER WRITING 191 

eral days before I got over the fatigue. I have had a little better 

appetite since I have been up here, though I have been troubled with 

the pain in my breast almost constantly, and still have a cough at 

night. I am unable to take any exercise worth mentioning, and 

doze away my time pretty much as I did in New York; however, I 

hope soon to get in a better trim. rrr ,- -r . 

— Wasmngton Imng. 

I was, a few mornings since, on a visit to the Duchess of Berwick. 
She is the widow of a grandee of Spain, who claimed some kind of 
descent from the royal Hne of the Stuarts. She is of immense wealth, 
and resides in the most beautiful palace in Madrid (excepting the 
royal one). I passed up a splendid staircase, and through haUs and 
saloons without number, all magnificently furnished, and hung with 
pictures and family portraits. This Duchess was an Itahan by 
birth, and brought up in the royal family at Naples. She is the 
very head of fashion here. Well, this lady of almost princely state, 
will be one of the ladies-in-waiting on the Kttle Queen when she 
receives her mother. She will stand behind the Queen, at the foot 
of the staircase of the royal palace, and perhaps near her Majesty's 
train. 

Think of that, my dear, think how grandly these Httle queens of 
thirteen years of age are waited upon. . . . After all this magnifi- 
cent detail, I shall expect, in return, an accoimt of cousin Julia's 
Ball, and how you all enjoyed yourselves, and how you were all 
dressed. 

Your mother reminds me that to-morrow is your eighteenth birth- 
day, and though I know that my "happy returns" will reach you a 
few hours too late, I cannot but send them. 

You are touching manhood now, my dear laddie, and I trust that 
as a man your mother and I may always find reason to regard you 
as we have done throughout your boyhood. 

The great thing in the world is not so much to seek happiness as 
to earn peace and self-respect. I have not troubled you much with 
paternal didactics — but that bit is "over true" and worth thinkings 
over. 

— T. H. Huxley. 



192 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

My dear Longfellow : 

You are coming to England, you know. Now listen to me. Wlien 
you return to London, I shall be there, please God! Write to me 
from the Continent, and tell me when to expect you. We Hve quietly 
— not uncomfortably — and among people whom I am sure you 
would like to know, as much as they would like to know you. Have 
no home but mine; see nothing in town on your way towards Ger- 
many, and let me be your London host and cicerone. Is this a 

bargain? ,, r • ■, ,■ ^-, 

Always faithfully your friend, 

Charles Dickens. 

This morning I poured some ink for the first time into your pretty 
ink-stand, and, as in duty bound, hansel it by writing to you. It 
has been standing on my shelf of my secretary, its mouth wide open 
with astonishment at my ingratitude in not writing to thank you, 
ever since it came. It needn't have been so jealous, though, for I 
have written to nobody else meanwhile, and it should remember that 
I can at any moment shut it up tight, deny it ink, pen and paper, 
and thus cut it off from aU its friends. "Monster!" I seem to hear 
it say, "you would not surely deny me the sad consolation of sending 
my love to Mrs. Herrick and teUing her how home-sick I am? There 
are aU kinds of fine things in me, as good as were ever in any ink- 
stand that ever lived, if you had but the wit to fish them out. If I 
had stayed with my dear mistress I should ere this have found a 
vent for my genius in a score of pleasant ways." Well, well, so long 
as you don't make me uneasy with your reproaches, I shall be sure 
to treat you kindly for the sake of your old mistress, . . . who is 
always contriving pleasant ways of making her friends grateful. 

Since I wrote, I have been down the harbor with the pilots in "The 
Friend." We went first to Hull and telegraphed the boat, which 
was cruising on the inner station. They could not come in for us 
at once, because they were on the lookout for the EngHsh steamers, 
so we had a chance to investigate Hull a httle. It is a pretty httle 
village cuddled down among the hills, the clay soil of which keeps 
them densely green. The fields are broad and wholly given to graz- 



LETTER WRITING 193 

ing cattle and sheep, which dotted them thickly in the breezy sun- 
shine. Down in the village we found a stalwart fellow in the barn 
shearing sheep. This was something new to me, and going away, I 
thanked the man for having shown me something I had never seen 
before. He laughed and said: "If you'll take off them gloves o' 
yourn, I'U give you a try at the practical part of it." By Jove! he 
was right. I never saw anything handsomer than those strong, firm 
hands of his, on which the sinews were as tight as a drawn bowstring. 
I told him that I was bred in the coimtry as well as he. He 
laughed again and said: "Wall, anyhow I've the advantage of you, 
for you never see a sheep shore, and I've been to the open and shore 
a sheep myself into the bargain." He told me that there were two 
himdred sheep in HuU, and that in his father's day there used to be 
eight hundred. The father, an old man of near eighty, stood look- 
ing on, pleased with his son's wit, as brown as if the HuU fogs were 
walnut jxiice. Then we dined at a little inn with a golden ball hung 
out for a sign — a waif, I fancy, from some shipwrecked vessel. 

— James Russell Lowell. 

WlU you dine with me on Saturday at six? I have a Baltimore 
friend coming, and depend on you. ... If not Saturday, will you 
say Sunday? 

— /. R. Lowell to Longfellow, Elmwood, May 3, 1876. 

The aspect of a Dutch town is much as I expected, and of course 
quite peculiar. Brick houses with sharp roofs, green blinds, gener- 
ally small and not more than two or three stories high, with remark- 
ably pretty iron fences before them — odd names and signs up at 
the windows, — at intervals the figure of a man opening his jaws as 
if to bolt a score of pills, the sign of the apothecary shops — here a 
street and there a canal — here a hackney coach on wheels, and there 
one which is dragged over the smooth flagstones on runners — such 
are the images that rise to my mind when I think of Rotterdam or 

— Oliver Wendell Holmes, London, July 25, 1834. 

Your most xmexpected gift, which is not a mere token of remem- 
brance, but a permanently valuable present, is making me happier 



194 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

every moment I look at it. It is so pleasant to be thought of by 
our friends when they have so much to draw their thoughts away 
from us; it is so pleasant too, to find that they have cared enough 
about us to study our special tastes — that you can see why your 
beautiful gift has a growing charm for me. Only Mrs. Holmes thinks 
it ought to be in the parlor among the things for show, and I think 
it ought to be in the study, where I can look at it at least once an 
hour every day of my life. 

— Oliver Wendell Holmes, July 6, 1891. 

These may be considered types of the letters to be presented. 
When the study of the general thought, the tone, the style, 
the paragraphing, and finally the sentence structure has been 
completed, have the class go over the model once more so as 
to learn any good words or phrases which may be used by them 
in their own work. In the fourth year, first half, direct atten- 
tion to "to be promoted" rather than to "to get promoted." 
Have the class study the right form, keeping a book in which 
they will enter from time to time similar expressions which will 
become a part of their written and spoken vocabulary. 

In the fourth year, second half, note the word "successful" 
rather than the indifferent word "good" or "nice." Synonyms 
may be elicited from pupils of the class, and boys should be 
encouraged to use these rather than the word given in the 
model. 

In the fifth year, first half, "secure employment" rather than 
"getting a job" or "getting a place" should be emphasized. 
The word "thorough" should be dwelt upon as a desirable 
addition to one's vocabulary. The phrase, "furnish recom- 
mendations" is one that should be brought to the attention of 
the class. Note also that we use "was graduated" rather than 
"graduated." 

In the fifth year, second half, the word "notify" is used where 
the usual letter makes use of the word "advise." The latter is 
not good form. 



LETTER WRITING 195 

In the work of the sixth year, first half, a nvimber of words and 
phrases should be made vital to the class: "hasten to acknowl- 
edge," "decided," "unanimously"; "someone" written as 
one word, "designated" — are examples. So also, "was in- 
structed to communicate," "joint committees," "that the 
debate be held," with emphasis on the subjunctive form, are 
important. 

Finally, there should be study of the spelling and the punctua- 
tion. Here the method of the dictation lesson may be employed. 
After the punctuation mark has been noted, the reason for its 
use should be given, and the class, at seats or at blackboard, 
may write phrases and sentences illustrating the points devel- 
oped. Where possible, if the plan of dictation for the term can 
be so arranged, the technical form should be taken up in a dic- 
tation lesson at about the same time that the model is studied. 
The last step in the study of the model should be the dictation 
of the words in the spelling of which the teacher anticipates 
difficulty. These should be copied by the class in note books 
and may be made the subject of an additional spelling lesson. 

It is not our intention at this point to take up a discussion 
of the question of composition correction. That subject will 
later be treated in full. A few suggestions, however, may be 
helpful. The teacher should from time to time take home a 
set of composition papers for the purpose of reading them 
through. It is not necessary to correct them. The reading 
should be done only for the purpose of getting a general impres- 
sion of the work of the class, the nature of the prevailing errors, 
the pecuHar errors of certain individuals, and an estimate of 
the general progress of the class. The teacher should keep a 
record of the weakness of individuals. The teaching of com- 
position is not a class affair. It is a question of the progress 
that is made by each individual member of the class. 

It is well to have class correction of each exercise before the 
advance is made to another; otherwise, the teacher will find 



196 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

the same errors repeated again and again. In the comparison 
of the children's letters with the original model an analytic 
method may be followed. First the general form; then the 
paragraphing; then the sentence structure; then the words 
and phrases; finally, the spelling and the punctuation. The 
teacher may have letters interchanged, asking the critics to 
write their names on the papers they have looked over. This 
will fix responsibiUty. Conversation within small groups of 
pupils may safely be permitted. Sometimes it will be found 
valuable to have a child write his composition on the board 
before nine or before one o'clock. The teacher may cover this 
work with sheets of paper. When the period comes for correc- 
tion, the paper may be removed and the class may discuss the 
pupil's work. Frequently it will be found that the best com- 
position of one of the children may be used as a model with 
good results. 

When corrections are made, the pupils should make the actual 
changes by interlining. If is of no value merely to indicate the 
nature of the error. In practice we wish to show the exact and 
correct form. While the teacher is passing around the room, 
she should be making corrections. Where the error is of such a 
sort that the pupU has already studied the corrected form, the 
teacher should by questions lead him to a correction of his own 
work. When the error cannot be briefly explained, the teacher 
should show the correct form and rely upon the power of imita- 
tion for the instruction of the pupil. It is advisable to have 
all corrections made in pencil. The custom of first having 
drafts and finally copies is pernicious, since it encourages poor 
writing and careless habits of expression. Unless there is a real 
need for a perfect copy, it is seldom advisable to have a com- 
position rewritten. 

Summary. — The most desirable quality in letter writing is spon- 
taneity. To secure it we must separate the study of the form of let- 



LETTER WRITING 197 

ters from the writing of the letter itself. The former is a matter of 
technique and should be taken up as sueh. The latter is a mode of 
self-expression and should not be checked by the deadening imita- 
tion of a model. Subjects should be personal and concrete. When 
possible the conditions of actual correspondence shoiild be estab- 
lished in order to lend reahsm to the exercise. The study of the 
model should follow the writing of the letters. 



CHAPTER XVIII 
COMPOSITION — NARRATION 

Ir the method outUned in Chapter X had been followed, 
much of the work in narration has already been done. The 
adaptation of the "Yonkers" or "Variation" method which 
was there given does not, however, analyze the elements of a 
narrative itself. It accepts the story already made, and con- 
centrates attention upon the vocabulary and eqmvalent ex- 
pressions. In the study of narration, under the heading of 
Formal Composition, it should be the aim of the teacher to use 
all the experience in narrative writing which has been gained 
from the other work in order to bring out ideas of the elements 
of a narrative itself. 

Reference has already been made to the dynamic nature of 
the narrative. The teacher must approach her work with 
this conception clearly defined. Narration is the form of 
expression most natural to human beings. It is more ele- 
mentary to speak of what one has done or has seen others do 
than to describe what one has seen. Less accuracy of discrim- 
ination is necessary for the former process and, hence, children 
are very likely to excel in narrative, though their descriptive 
work may be indifferent. Furthermore, a good narrative 
depends upon rapidity of action, clearness of details, and co- 
herence. A good description depends, primarily, upon well 
chosen epithets. It is a much rarer thing to find power in the 
latter than in the former particular. It will not be necessary 
to urge children in the composition of a narrative. If they are 
given sufficient confidence, when they are given the elements 



NARRATION 199 

or the suggestion of a story that is worth teUing, they will look 
forward with eagerness to the period set aside for this work. 

The question then must arise: How are we to give this 
proper training? As in practically all successful habit forma- 
tion, analysis must precede synthesis. Logically it may be 
correct to build up from the elements; pedagogically, the 
natural method is analytic. 

The first work should be to read a short story to the class 
as a mere relaxation. It is a mistake to begin this work at 
once by presenting the model, stud3dng it, reproducing it, and 
so on. The children should first be interested in a story as 
such, and if they have the feeling that no story is ever to be 
presented to them except for analysis and imitation, there will 
be only perfunctory interest. If, however, a number of stories 
are told to the children at odd moments, and if when the com- 
position time comes, the children are called upon to choose 
which one they wish to reproduce or imitate, we are approach- 
ing more closely to a method that gives opportunity for free 
self-expression. 

In the lower classes, of course, reproduction of some sort 
may follow upon practically every telling of the story. In these 
cases there is no reason why this part of the work should be 
used for the purpose of training diffident or backward children 
in oral composition. Call upon the best pupils, those who can 
be relied upon, and for each story have but one, or at most 
two pupils of the backward t)^e attempt a reproduction. It 
is a torture to listen to a good story poorly told; why should 
we subject the children to such torture? On the other hand, 
however, it must not be forgotten that if the story is of the right 
type and the children are really interested, there is no better 
time to call upon the slow pupils than this, for the teacher may 
now be assured of interest and a desire to excel. 

After the story has been told, the teacher may ask the class 
as a whole to supply omitted details. Once more it must be 



200 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

emphasized that the teacher should not make the mistake 
of permitting disjointed answers, meaningless in themselves, 
encouraging habits of carelessness in speech and in thought. 
Each time a pupil supplies a fact, he should be called upon to 
tell why he considers this fact important. Finally, the teacher 
may, with a few well-chosen questions, bring to the surface new 
applications and relations. It is essential that the teacher 
know the story perfectly. She should have determined on the 
points to be emphasized, and the inexperienced teacher should 
even have framed the questions designed to lead the class to 
see these important parts. In general it may be said that the 
questions of the teacher should be devoted to one of three 
purposes. First, to bring out facts previously unmentioned. 
Second, to show the ethical appHcation of the story, if there be 
any, to ask the judgment of the pupils on such questions of 
conduct as may He within their experience, and in general to 
make the narrative a vital part of their thinking. Third, to 
show as much of the technical construction of the story as 
may be thought wise, considering, however, the age and the 
capabiHties of the children. This part of the work will later be 
treated more in detail. 

The analysis should not be taken up until there has been a 
general discussion of the story. For instance, a question like, 
"What do you think of this story?" is sufficient to evoke varied 
comment. It is difficult to decide whether the model should 
be presented before or after the children write an original story. 
On the one hand, it must be recognized that at some time or 
other there must be a careful study of the form. On the other, 
it must equally be recognized that mere imitation may produce 
a flat sameness. It is in this connection that valuable use may 
be made of the instruction already given in the oral and written 
reproduction of stories. Even when the children have reached 
the first half of the fourth year, they should already be able 
to write with almost absolute accuracy a story of reasonable 



NARRATION 201 

length, containing many features entirely original with them, 
although the story itself is merely an adaptation of one presented 
by the teacher. 

Before the children are called upon to write an original story, 
they may be asked to put on paper one of the stories already 
written by them in the school. This may be assigned for seat 
work, or it may be done at home. At all events, it should not 
take up much of the time which rightly should be given to the 
actual composition work in narration. The story may be used 
as the first presentation of the narrative to the children, and 
with this as the basis, the teacher should proceed to call the 
attention of the class to certain elements of the technique of 
narration. 

In every class, from the first half of the fourth year through 
the sixth year, where much of this formal work will cease, the 
teacher should bring out the idea that the connection between 
the paragraphs in an exercise in narration is the sequence in 
time. That is to say, except where the chronological order is 
purposely departed from, the order of events as given in the 
story should determine the order of the paragraphs. Secondly, 
the class should be led to observe that each paragraph tells one 
incident or a imit part of an incident in full. Thirdly, that the 
topic of the last paragraph should be such as to form a climax 
to the story. 

It might be well to have the class form an outline from the 
story which has been written. It will probably be found that 
the best results will be achieved if the topic sentence of the out- 
line is written in the present tense. In the higher grades, such 
as from the fifth year onward, the children may be allowed 
to use the past tense in their preparation of the outline. A 
difficulty often met in this utilization of the stories learned 
by the children in another part of the work, is that the 
stories which they reproduce, using their own variations in 
expression, are many times longer than those they are 



202 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

allowed to compose exclusively from their own data. It will 
be noted, for instance, that the model for the first half of the 
fourth year contains but two paragraphs, and the teacher should 
see to it that the work of the pupil contains no more than two. 
The reason for this difference in length is not hard to find. It 
is much easier merely to vary a story already determined as 
to order of development and climax, concentrating attention 
solely on the expression, than it is to write an original story 
with attention divided between the expression, i.e., the form, 
and the story, or the content. 

In the fourth year it will be sufi&cient to make the analysis 
of the children's stories bring out these ideas of chronological 
sequence, of paragraph unity, and, finally, of climax. In the 
fifth year, since the stories which have already been written 
will be more difiacult, the analysis by the teacher should bring 
out the point that occasionally the thread of the story may be 
interrupted so as to allow the story teller to insert a description 
of a place in which something important is to happen, or of 
a person by whom something of importance is to be done. In 
the fifth year also, there should be emphasis on the importance 
of straightforward narration. No event is told out of its order, 
and there is no retracing of one's steps. The teacher may make 
this idea clear to the children by telling them that a narration 
tells of things and the times at which they took place; and that 
just as we cannot turn time backwards, so we cannot go back- 
wards in our telling of a story. It will be found that the retro- 
spective narration cannot be successfully handled below the 
seventh year of the elementary school course. In the fifth and 
the sixth years, also, the teacher may call attention to a few 
particularly well-chosen words in the stories written by the 
children. In general, however, this analysis of the stories which 
the children have learned in their oral and written reproduction 
work should be made solely for the purpose of bringing out the 
idea of correct form in narration. 



NARRATION 203 

The next step in the work should be to give to the class either 
the elements of a story or a subject on which they are to write. 
The study of the formal model should be made only after the 
children have set down on paper their own attempts. 

In the first half of the fourth year the introduction might be 

to tell what a fable is; then the model might be given to the 

children. In the second half of the fourth year the aim should 

be the reproduction of the story with particular emphasis upon 

an uninterrupted sequence of events. In the fifth year, first 

half, it would of course be extremely dull to ask the children 

to reproduce the story suggested as a model. The teacher 

should make the narration so vivid that on the basis of this 

work the children will be able to write a story of their own. 

Here, therefore, the model should again precede the writing of 

the original work by the children. In the second half of the 

fifth year the analysis of the story may be the first part of 

the lesson, and the original work of the children may be the 

development of the idea suggested in the title. In the study of 

the model in the first half of the sixth year, direct reproduction 

may be permitted. The aim here is to make an addition to the 

vocabulary of the child, and no better means could be adopted 

than the selection of a story from Hawthorne. The model for 

the last half of the sixth year should not be studied until after 

the children have written their own composition. The models 

are here presented. They have been chosen from different 

sources, and have been found adapted to the work of an average 

child. 

Fourth Year — First Half 

The Crow and the Pitcher 

A thirsty crow one morning sought far and wide for water to 
quench his thirst. At last he found a long-necked pitcher which was 
partly filled with water. He said, "Now I can have water to drink." 
But when he tried to drink, he found that he could not reach the water, 
it stood so low in the pitcher. He tried and tried in vain. 



204 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

At last a happy thought struck him. He found a pebble near by, 
brought it in his bill, and dropped it into the water. Then he flew 
to get another, and another, and another, dropping them into the 
pitcher, one by one. The water rose higher and higher with every 
pebble, until at last he could reach it easily. Then he drank his fill. 

Fourth Year — Second Half 

When Stuart was painting Washington's portrait, he was rallied 
one day by the General for his slow work. The painter protested 
that the picture could not advance untU the canvas was dry, and 
that there must be yet some delay. Upon arriving next morning, 
Stuart turned his canvas and discovered, to his great horror, that 
the picture was spoiled. "General," said he, "somebody has held 
this picture to the fire." 

Washington summoned his negro valet, Sam, and demanded of 
him, in great indignation, who had dared to touch the portrait. 
The trembling Sam rephed, that, chancing to overhear Washington's 
expression of impatience at the slowness of the work, and the response 
of the artist that it must be dry before he could go on, he had ven- 
tured to put the canvas before the fire. Washington, with great 
anger, dismissed htm, and told him not to show his face again. 

But the next day, after Stuart had arrived and was preparing to 
work, Washington rang the bell, and sent for Sam. He came in 
abashed and trembling. The President drew a new silver watch from 
his pocket, and said, "Come here, Sam. Take this watch, and when- 
ever you look at it remember that your master, in a moment of pas- 
sion, said to you what he now regrets, and that he was not ashamed 
to confess that he had done so." 

Fifth Year — First Half 

One day a tragedy was enacted a few yards from where I was sit- 
ting with a book; two song sparrows were trying to defend their 
nest against a black snake. The curious interrogating note of a 
chicken who had suddenly come upon the scene in his walk first 
caused me to look up from my reading. There were the sparrows, 
with wings raised in a way pecuharly expressive of horror and dis- 



NARRATION 205 

may, rushing about a low clump of grass and bushes. Then, looking 
more closely, I saw the glistening form of the black snake, and the 
quick movement of his head as he tried to seize the birds. 

The sparrows darted about and through the grass and weeds, try- 
ing to beat the snake off. Their tails and wings were spread, and, 
panting with the heat and desperate struggle, they presented a most 
singular spectacle. They uttered no cry, not a sound escaped them; 
they were plainly speechless with horror and dismay. Not once 
did they drop their wings, and the peculiar expression of the uplifted 
palms, as it were, I shall never forget. 

It occurred to me that perhaps here was a case of attempt at bird- 
charming on the part of the snake, so I looked on from behind the 
fence. The birds charged the snake and harassed him from every 
side, but were evidently under no spell save that of courage in 
defending their nest. 

Every moment cr two I could see the head and neck of the serpent 
make a sweep at the birds, when the one struck at would fall back, 
and the other would renew the assault from the rear. There ap- 
peared to be Uttle danger that the snake covdd strike and hold one of 
the birds, though I trembled for them, they were so bold and ap- 
proached so near to the snake's head. Time and again he sprang 
at them, but without success. How the poor things panted, and held 
up their wings appealingly! Then the snake glided off to the near 
fence, barely escaping the stone which I hurled at him. 

— John Burroughs. 

Fifth Year — Second Half 
An Unwelcome Visitor 

Many years ago, a Httle frame schoolhouse stood at the edge of a 
large forest. Often the children in school would tremble to hear the 
wolves howling near by; yet they loved to collect at the windows and 
watch the troops of gay hunters who passed on their way to the 
forest. 

One fine spring morning, the yelping of hunters' hounds broke the 
stillness, and before anyone had time to rush to the windows to see 
what was the matter, a fox dashed in at the open schoolroom door 



2o6 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

with a pack of hounds close upon it. In a second everything was in 
an uproar. The fox turned about as if it wanted to go back, but the 
hounds in the door blocked the way, so with growls and snarls it leaped 
over the benches scattering the screaming children right and left. 

Some of the children scrambled imder benches to get out of the 
way, others huddled together in corners, and a few nearest the door 
rushed out, while the teacher shouted, "Out at the door, every- 
body!" The fox made for the farthest corner of the room, and as 
the hounds closed in upon it, in the general confusion, the last of the 
children were finally pushed out at the doorway by the teacher. 

A group of hunters came riding up, and several hurried into the 
schoolroom to the hoimds' assistance. They had guessed what had 
taken place when they heard the shouts of the children, but were 
too far away to call off the hounds. They seemed heartily sorry to 
think they had caused such a disturbance. 

Sixth Year — First Half 

Miss Hepzibah Pyncheon sat in the oaken elbow chair. She was 
suddenly startled by the tinkling alarm — of a httle bell. The maiden 
lady arose upon her feet, as pale as a ghost. This little bell, being 
fastened over the shop door, was so contrived as to convey notice 
to the inner regions of the house when any customer should cross 
the threshold. Its ugly and spiteful little din at once set every 
nerve in her body in tumiiltuous vibration. Her first customer was 
at the door. 

The door, being forced quite open, a square and sturdy little ur- 
chin became apparent, with cheeks as red as an apple. He was 
clad rather shabbily (but, as it seemed, more owing to his mother's 
carelessness than his father's poverty) in a blue apron, very wide 
and short trousers, shoes somewhat out at the toes, and a chip hat, 
with the frizzles of his curly head sticking through the crevices. A 
book and a small slate, under his arm, indicated that he was on his 
way to school. He stared at Hepzibah a moment, not knowing 
what to make of the tragic attitude and queer scowl wherewith she 
regarded him. 

"Well, child," said she, taking heart at the sight of a personage 
so httle formidable, "well, my child, what did you wish for? " " That 



NARRATION 207 

Jim Crow there in the window," answered the urchin, holding out a 
cent, and pointing to the gingerbread figure that had attracted his 
notice. 

So Hepzibah put forth her lank arm, and, taking the eflSgy from 
the shop window, deHvered it to her first customer. "No matter 
for the money," said she, giving him a httle push toward the door; 
for it seemed such pitiful meanness to take the child's pocket money 
in exchange for a bit of stale gingerbread. "You are welcome to 
Jim Crow." 

The child, staring with round eyes at this instance of liberality, 
took the man of gingerbread and quitted the premises. No sooner 
had he reached the sidewalk than Jim Crow's head was in his mouth. 
— Adapted from "The House of the Seven Gables," 

Nathaniel Hawthorne. 

Sixth Year — Second Half 
Two Foolish Goats 

The goats started to cross a narrow bridge at the same time. 
Neither would go back for the other. They began to fight and both 
fell into the water. 

Far up among the lofty Alps, a beautiful stream springs from its 
rocky bed. On it tumbles, in its rushing, noisy way ever journe3dng 
to the distant sea. Just where it is deepest, someone has built a nar- 
row bridge. The mountain goats often found it very useful. 

One day a large, white goat started to cross it. At the same 
moment a big brown feUow, with a fine pair of horns, stepped on at 
the other end. Of course, they met in the middle. 

Each expected the other to step back. Both insisted on moving 
forward. White Goat said he had started first and therefore had 
the right to continue. Brown Goat refused to yield. 

Soon they were fighting. White Goat was heavy and strong, but 
Brown Goat was quick with his horns. They got so close to the 
edge of the bridge, that the chattering brook could see their forms 
reflected in her shining face. Suddenly there was a loud splash and 
there were the two goats struggling desperately to reach land again. 

A valuable part of the study of the model is a careful examina- 



2o8 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

tion of words and phrases which may be adopted by the class 
for incorporation into their own work. It has already been 
suggested, in connection with the study of the letters, what 
principles should guide the teacher in the selection of these 
words and what devices may be used. Certain points, however, 
are peculiar to narrative work. 

In the model, fourth year, first half, the class should note 
the repetition which gives the effect of continued action; the 
examples are, "tried and tried"; "another and another and 
another"; "higher and higher." Have the pupils form sen- 
tences of their own, using these and original repetitions to give 
the effect. At this point the chances are that the error will 
develop in the use of an adjective instead of an adverb. That 
is to say, a pupil wUl say, "He went slower and slower." This 
should be made at once the basis for correction. Although 
reasons cannot be given, the children should be given the 
standard of right expression. 

In the model for the second half of the fourth year, the story 
should be dramatized as soon as it has been learned by the class. 
In the study of narration in general, after the discussion, the 
outline formation, and the study of words and phrases, oral 
reproduction may be had. The idea is to apply what has been 
learned of the form without meeting the additional difficulty 
of spelling and the technique of written expression. It will 
be found that in the desire to dramatize well children will 
memorize the exact language of the model; that they will get 
the dramatic representation of such phrases and words as 
"abashed," etc. A valuable exercise will also be provided by 
the necessity of changing the dialogue in the second paragraph 
as reported in the third person, to the second person. 

The model for the fifth year, first half, offers excellent oppor- 
tunity for developing the use of well-chosen adjectives. Try 
to have the class understand that of the many describing words 
which could be used (and they should be encouraged to supply 



NARRATION 209 

others than those found in the text), there is always one which 
brings a picture to the mind and which is the best that could 
have been employed. Examples in the model are, "inter- 
rogating," "dispirited," "harassed," and so on. Drill on this 
kind of work will be found of great value. Give the nouns 
and ask the class to supply the appropriate adjective, and vice 
versa. In the same way, sentences with blanks for the appro- 
priate words may be supplied to the children. Any book on 
English will give a supply of material or the teacher may fur- 
nish her own material by selecting sentences from any good 
work. In copying sentences, she may leave a blank for the 
word to be supplied. This is an excellent form of busy work to 
be used in classes organized for group work. Similar work may 
be based on the model of the second half of the fifth year, and 
that of the sixth year, first half. 

In the story given for the second half of the sixth year, the 
model itself should not be presented to the class until the pupils 
have made their own attempts at the amplification of the story. 
The teacher may have the brief story analyzed and the outline 
may consist of an enumeration of the possible points to be 
expanded. Suggestions are (i) the place; (2) the description 
of the goats; (3) the conversation between the goats; (4) the 
fight. Each of these may be developed, first, orally, then in 
writing, and the best may be written on the board. In this 
way will be built up an eclectic composition consisting of the 
best work of the best individuals. This may then be erased 
and the class set to work on the writing of the story itself. 
Then at the second, or if two periods have already been taken 
up, at the third period, the pupils' work may be compared with 
the model. Here the aim should be to show where specific 
words have been used with better effect in the model than in 
the story written by the pupils. From this part of the lesson, 
the correction, etc., will proceed as was outlined in the work 
on letters and as will be later more fully developed. 



2IO THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

Summary. — Before original work in narration is begun, there 
should be a review of stories studied by the "Variation" method. 
The class should be brought clearly to understand that the connec- 
tion in narration is through sequence in time. The formation of out- 
lines will aid in making this understood. The difficulties should be 
carefully graded. Fourth year — unbroken narrative. Fifth year 
— interpolated descriptions of persons or of places. Sixth year — 
study of the diction particularly adapted to narration. 



CHAPTER XrX 
COMPOSITION — DESCRIPTION 

Models to be Studied 

Fourth Year — First Half 

The Statue of the Olympian Zeus 

The statue of the Olympian Zeus was a fine piece of work. The 
great sculptor Phidias made it as beautiful and grand as he could. 
It was in honor of the mighty Zeus, the father of all the gods. 

The throne upon which this figure was seated was made of cedar- 
wood and ebony, and richly set with precious stones. 

The face, the chest, the arms, and the feet of the statue were of 
ivory; the hair and beard were of solid gold with jewelled flowers. 
In one outstretched hand stood a golden figure of the Winged Vic- 
tory; in the other was a mighty scepter. Forty feet high was this 
grand statue. He sat there with a look sublime and unapproachable, 
yet not stern or angry. 

The old Greeks used to say, "Not to have seen the Olympian Zeus 
was indeed a misfortune to any man." 

— Andrews' "Ten Boys." 

Fourth Year — Second Half 

Description of an Apartment at Bracebridge Hall 

It was a large, old-fashioned hall. Over the heavy projecting 
fireplace was suspended a picture of a warrior in armor, standing by 
a white horse, and on the opposite wall hung a helmet, buckler and 
lance. At one end an enormous pair of antlers were inserted in the 
waU, the branches serving as hooks on which to suspend hats, whips 



212 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

and spurs, and in the corners of the apartment were fowling-pieces, 
fishing-rods, and other sporting implements. The furniture was 
of the cumbrous workmanship of former days, though some articles 
of modern convenience had been added, and the oaken floor had 
been carpeted, so the whole presented an odd mixture of parlor and 
hall. 

The grate had been removed from the wide, overwhelming fire- 
place to make way for a fire of wood, in the midst of which was an 
enormous log, glowing and blazing, and sending forth a vast volume 

" — Washington Irving, "Sketch Book." 



Fifth Year — First Half 
An Eskimo Hut 

On the slope, fifty yards from the beech, in the midst of rocks and 
boulders, stood the Eskimo settlement, consisting of two stone huts 
twenty yards apart. It was more fitted for the dwelling place of 
wild animals than for the home of himian beings. Around it was 
a wilderness of snow and ice. In the evening while the men in our 
tent were fast asleep, I paid a visit to one of these huts. I found 
it to be in shape much like an old-fashioned country clay oven, 
square in front, and sloping back into the rock strewn hill. 

To get inside, I was obliged to crawl on my hands and knees 
through a covered passage about twelve feet long. . . . The whole 
interior was about ten feet in diameter and five and a half feet high. 
The walls were made of stones, moss, bones of whales and other 
animals. They were lined with seal or fox skins stretched to dry. 
In the cracks between the stones were thrust whipstocks and bone 
pegs, on which hvmg coils of harpoon lines. 

The floor was covered with thin flat stones. Half of this floor, 
at the back part of the hut, was elevated a foot. This elevator was 
called "breck," and it served as both bed and seat, being covered 
with dry grass over which were spread bear and dog skins. The front 
of the hut was square and through it, above the passageway opened 
a window. A square sheet of strips of dried intestine, sewed together, 
admitted the hght. 



DESCRIPTION 213 

The air of the place was insufferable except for a short time. . . . 
There may have been a vent hole but I did not see any. I was 
indeed glad to get back to my people. 

— Isaac I. Hayes, "An Arctic Boat Journey." 

Fifth Year — Second Half 
View from a Pier in Geneva Harbor 

The pier commands a view of the lake and town. How crystal 
clear is the water of the lake! 

Forty miles away is the king of Alpine peaks, Mount Blanc. This' 
snow-crowned monarch is most beautiful as it hfts its mighty mass 
towards heaven. 

Turning our eyes towards the town we see the lake shore in the 
form of a crescent with a park along its inner circle. On either side 
of the park, hotels and mansions front the lake. Their brilliant 
cream color makes a fine contrast with the blue of the sky and water. 
Beyond the park and hotels the city rises in a pUe. Far in the west 
the hills make a dark line against the sky. 

On the lake steamboats cut the blue water and leave a trail of white 
foam. Heavy barges loaded with stone drift past. 

Here the River Rhone issues from the lake with a current swift 
and powerful. Looking down the river we see a vista of bridges. 
-^Adapted from Little's "Journeys in Switzerland." 

Sixth Year — First Half 

The Old Apple Dealer 

He is a small man, with grey hair and grey stubby beard, and is 
invariably clad in a shabby surtout of snuff-color, closely buttoned, 
and half concealing a pair of grey pantaloons; the whole dress, though 
clean and entire, being evidently flimsy with much wear. His face, 
thin, withered, furrowed, and with features which even age has failed 
to render impressive, has a frost-bitten aspect. 

He sits on a bench in the depot room, and before him, on the floor, 
are deposited two baskets, of a capacity to contain his whole stock 
in trade. Across, from one basket to the other, extends a board on 



214 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

which are displayed a plate of cakes and gingerbread, some russet 
and red-cheeked apples, and a box containing variegated sticks of 
candy; together with that delectable condiment known by chil- 
dren as Gibraltar rock, neatly done up in white paper. There is 
likewise a half-peck measure of cracked walnuts, and two or three 
tin half-pints or gills filled with the nut kernels, ready for pur- 
chasers. Such are the small commodities with which our old friend 
comes daily before the world ministering to its petty needs and little 
freaks of appetite, and seeking thence the solid subsistence — so 
far as he may subsist — of his life. 

— Nathaniel Hawthorne, " Mosses from an Old Manse." 

Sixth Year — Second Half 

In my school-house ... I seem to see the square most readily 
in the Scotch mist which so often filled it, loosening the stones and 
choking the drains. There was then no rattle of rain against my win- 
dow sill, nor dancing of diamond drops on the roofs, but blobs of water 
grew on the panes of glass to reel heavily down them. Then the sod- 
den square would have shed abundant tears if you could have taken 
it in your hands and wrung it like a dripping cloth. 

At such a time the square would be empty but for one vegetable- 
cart left in the care of a lean colly, which, tied to the wheel, whined 
and shivered underneath. Pools of water gather in the coarse sacks 
that have been spread over the potatoes and bundles of greens, which 
turn to manure in their lidless barrels. The eyes of the whimpering 
dog never leave a black close over which hangs the sign of the Bull, 
probably the refuge of the hawker. At long intervals a farmer's 
gig rumbles over the bumpy, ill-paved square, or a native, with his 
head buried in his coat, peeps out of doors, skurries across the way, 
and vanishes. Hosts of the leading shops are here, and the decorous 
draper ventures a few yards from the pavement to scan the sky, 
or note the effect of his new arrangement in scarfs. Planted against 
his door is the butcher, Henders Todd, white-aproned, and with a 
knife in his hand, gazing interestedly at the draper, for a mere man 
may look at an elder. The tinsmith brings out his steps, and mount- 
ing them, stealthily removes the sauce-pans and pepper-pots that 



DESCRIPTION 215 

dangle on a wire above his signboard. PuUing to his door he shuts 
out the foggy hght that showed in his solder-strewn workshop. 

The square is deserted again. A bundle of sloppy parsley slips 
from the hawker's cart and topples over the wheel in driblets. The 
puddles in the sacks overflow and run together. The dog has twisted 
his chain round a barrel, and yelps sharply. As if in response comes 
a rush of other dogs. A terrified fox terrier tears across the square 
with half a score of mongrels, the butcher's mastiff and some collies 
at his heels; he is doubtless a stranger who has insulted them by his 
glossy coat. For two seconds the square shakes to an invasion of 
dogs, and then, again, there is only one dog in sight. 

— Barrie, "Auld Licht Idylls," Chap. I. 

A composition exercise in description permits the child to 
express through the mediuum of words a picture which he has 
in mind, so that from his account a reader can reconstruct that 
picture, forming, in his turn, an image which will enable him 
to identify the object if at any time it is actually presented to 
him. It is, therefore, absolutely necessary that hand in hand 
with the study of the model should go the study of the picture 
of the object described in the model. The preparatory step in 
this work should be the showing of a large picture sufficiently 
rich in detail to afford the child such information as he will 
need in describing it. It would be an added advantage if smaller 
copies of this picture were supplied to the individual pupils. 

The teacher may begin the exercise by giving the name of 
the picture and a brief statement of something interesting con- 
nected with it. Thus, with the model of the fourth year, first 
half, it might be a brief account of the wonderful achievements 
of the Greeks in art. With the other model of the fourth year, 
it might be a reference to the antiquity of some of the great 
English houses, how every stone seems to tell a story that is 
hallowed with age. The subjects of the other models will 
suggest to the teacher a similar mode of approach. 

Before the model itself is presented to the children, they may 



2i6 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

be called upon to attempt a description of the picture. This 
should be oral, and the aim of the teacher should be to lead the 
children to give their descriptions in some ordered form. The 
natural result of this exercise will be that the child will plunge 
at once into the description of the picture itself and that when 
he has told all that he can about it, he will consider his descrip- 
tion finished. When a number of the pupils have been called 
upon in this way to give an oral account of the object which is 
described in the model, the teacher then may speak briefly of 
the value of some form of introduction to the description. She 
may call attention to the fact that it is necessary, very frequently, 
to place the object definitely or to tell something about it which 
will arouse interest in the description. Then she may refer to 
the fact that when the description has been completed, it is 
frequently good to have a summary or to give an estimate of 
the picture. 

The model should then be presented to the class. The first 
step in the study should be devoted to the description proper. 
In the model for the fourth year, first half, this is found in the 
second and third paragraphs. The second may be explained 
as describing the first impression one gets as one looks at the 
statue. The children should be directed to note that the para- 
graph is general, that it contains no element of description which 
will not appeal to an observer even at a considerable distance. 
In the third paragraph the teacher may direct attention to the 
grouping of details. A good description does not give an account 
of the different parts of an object in a hap-hazard, random 
fashion. Rather does it attempt to adopt from the outset 
some standard of uniting different elements so as to keep the 
mind of the reader intent upon one aspect of the thing. In 
the description in question, the first element of unity is found 
in the materials of which the statue was made. We have the 
account of the four parts which were made of ivory; then the 
two which were of solid gold. 



DESCRIPTION 217 

Once more, the teacher should call the attention of the class 
to the fact that the description proceeds from those things 
which can be most readily observed from a distance to those 
things which can be noted only when one has come closer to 
the object. Thus one may easily note what part of the statue 
was of ivory, what part was of gold, and what were the objects 
held in the hands. The next detail is also one that might 
appeal to an observer at a distance, and the object of intro- 
ducing this detail of size or of measurement is to make the statue 
a concrete thing to the mind of the child. The last sentence of 
this paragraph, describing the expression on the face of the 
statue, is a smaller detail which requires on the one hand no 
very close examination, and yet calls for a nearer approach. 
In other words, the aim of the study should be to emphasize 
these two points: first, that the distance from the object deter- 
mines the kind of details to be mentioned, and secondly, that 
the details must be grouped around some common element, in 
this case the composition of the statue. 

The last step in the study of the model may be to direct the 
attention of the class to the value and efifect of the introductory 
and the concluding paragraph. The former gives a general 
judgment of the statue, mentions incidentally the name of 
the sculptor, and tells why the statue was made. The latter 
by implication summarizes the judgment expressed in the first 
paragraph and gives the general impression of the wonderful 
beauty of the work. 

It is not to be supposed, however, that the class is to be led 
to believe that the only common element around which the 
details are to be grouped is the element of material. It will 
be well perhaps in this grade to restrict direct reference al- 
together to this, but the children should be allowed to use 
any other idea for the purpose of grouping details. 

In the model selected for study in the second half of the fourth 
year, we have an entirely different mode of approach. Here 



2i8 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

the value and the artistic effect of the abrupt introduction should 
be made clear to the class. The introductory sentence is short, 
arouses interest, and in a way creates a general though very- 
vague picture of the hall itself. As a matter of fact, the entire 
model is merely an amplification of what is suggested in the 
introductory sentence. When this point has been made clear 
to the class, the teacher may lead the pupils to note the order 
in which the different details are given. The first thing men- 
tioned is what probably was the most striking object in the 
entire room. This is followed by a description of what was on 
the opposite wall of the room. The teacher should take advan- 
tage of this to call the attention of the class to the element of 
balance or symmetry in description. Examples of this will be 
found in any class-room, and in the architecture of any build- 
ing. It is a natural tendency for us when once our attention 
has been called to some object in a general picture, to see what 
other object is present to balance the first. 

The third sentence of the first paragraph carries out practically 
the same order of development. In the last sentence the de- 
scription of the furniture comes in naturally since after noting 
the objects hung around on the walls, one turns the attention 
to the contents of the room itself. The attention of the class 
should be directed to the incongruity of the two. The wall 
decorations gave the effect of a hall; the contents were those 
usually associated with a parlor, and, therefore, the close of the 
first paragraph gives expression to the conflict of the two ideas. 
We may safely assume that the first aim in the mind of the per- 
son who entered this room was to classify it. That is, to tell what 
kind of room it was, and to what sort of use it was probably put. 
This may safely be assumed to be the aim of any similar de- 
scription and the class should be called upon, in their original 
work, to attempt to achieve a similar res;ilt. In this case, the 
classification was not really complete since the author can only 
say that the whole presented an odd mixture of parlor and hall. 



DESCRIPTION ' 219 

With the first paragraph devoted to classification, the second 
is directed to a more detailed description of the most interesting 
object in the room. This is, in this particular case, the grate. 
The second paragraph is more expositional than descriptive. 
Before the study of the model is completed the children may be 
called upon to write one or two sentences to describe the effect 
of this glowing fire in the fireplace. Four points should have 
been made clear to the class. First, the value of the abrupt 
introduction; secondly, the attempt at initial classification; 
thirdly, the detailed description of the most striking feature; 
and fourthly, the creation of a general emotional effect in the 
observer. 

The model for study in the first half of the fifth year brings 
us to a more minute study of the technique of description. The 
four paragraphs follow a definite order. The first gives the 
general impression of the entire settlement from a distance, and 
tells the occasion on which the writer made a visit to the huts 
in order to see what they were like. The last sentence of this 
paragraph is a description of one of these huts as it appears to 
an observer from without. The second paragraph, which gives 
the description of the interior in general, is accompanied by a 
slight narrative detail which shows how the writer came to 
change his view-point. In all descriptions of this kind, the 
class should be required to introduce this detail. Where this 
narrative element is not present, we are to assimie that the ob- 
server continues to stand in one place. If the description is of 
such a nature that it calls for a change of position, the account 
should include a statement of how the observer moved from 
place to place. The third paragraph is purely descriptive and 
shows the general plan of all descriptions; namely, that the 
progress should be from the general impression to the various 
details. The last paragraph should be particularly dwelt upon 
with the class as describing a detail which could become evident 
to the observer only after a more or less prolonged stay in the 



220 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

hut. It would have been an inconsistency to refer to the insuf- 
ferable air at the moment of entrance. It would have been 
much more natural, in fact, to speak of the atmosphere within 
the hut by contrast with the actual air as being perhaps too 
warm. It would be only after the writer had stayed inside for 
some time that the air would become insufferable. Finally, the 
last sentence of the description gives the necessary narrative 
element which takes the writer back to the original view-point. 

The model chosen for study in the second half of the fifth 
year is one which calls for the description of details noted in 
succession, while the view-point of the observer remains the 
same. It is not necessary to call attention to any detailed 
mode of treatment. The order of topics in the paragraph will 
suggest to the teacher the right method of approach. 

The model for the first half of the sixth year is on a subject 
that will always appeal to a class. The greatest care should be 
given to the choice of the right adjectives. In fact, it would be 
well for the teacher to have the children give, in a preliminary 
exercise, niunbers of adjectives describing various parts of the 
physiognomy or the apparel of a person. This will increase 
their working vocabulary. When they come to their original 
work, the right motive may be supplied by having them write 
their description without naming the person. The test of the 
successful description is that another pupil reading the account 
written by one of his classmates will be able to identify the 
person. An exercise of this sort is a source of never ending 
delight to a class. 

The model for study in the second half of 4he sixth year 
introduces a new element in that the same object is described 
at different times. In the selection that is given for study, this 
difference of time is utilized only for the purpose of introduc- 
ing new details. In the original work done by the children, 
however, the aim should be to have them seek to produce 
different kinds of effects. Thus they may describe the class- 



DESCRIPTION 221 

room so that it will give the effect of cheerfulness, and the 
second paragraph may be devoted to a description of the same 
room for the purpose of giving the effect of gloom. Prelim- 
inary exercises would be to have the children arrange in double 
columns adjectives descriptive of the same actual condition, 
and yet chosen in one case so as to give a bright effect, in the 
other, to give a somber effect. In the beginning this work will 
be extremely imsatisfactory, but if the teacher exercises a 
reasonable amount of patience, the result wiU improve wonder- 
fully. 

Summary. — The study of the object should proceed hand in hand 
with the formal work in description. Training in observation is a 
part of the training in the writing of description. Children should be 
led to proceed from the general effect to details, from the striking first 
appearance to a closer examiriation. The effect upon the descrip- 
tion of a change in the point of view of the observer should be made 
clear to the class by a careful study of the model. In the more 
advanced work, such details should be selected as will, tend to pro- 
duce a desired effect upon the mood of the reader, while stUl remain- 
ing true to the real purpose of description; viz., the identification 
of some object or scene. 



CHAPTER XX 
COMPOSITION — EXPOSITION 

Models to be Studied 

Fourth Year — First Half 

How to Play Handball 

Handball is a game played by boys or men. A ball and something 
against which to throw it are needed. Boys often use any blank wall 
or fence to play against, but when grown men play they have courts 
built for the purpose. 

The baU is thrown against a wall and then struck with the pahn 
of the hand as it reboimds. The object is to keep it from the groimd 
as long as possible. The player who keeps the ball in the air, between 
his hand and the wall, the longest, wins. 

Fourth Year — Second Half 
A Home-Made Kaleidoscope 

Get three strips of glass about a foot long and two or three inches 
wide, a piece of semi-transparent writing paper, and some dark col- 
ored paper. 

Tie the strips together. The strings wiU keep the glass in posi- 
tion. Cut a piece of the writing and of the dark paper so they wiU 
fit the ends of the prism. 

Cut a small round hole in the middle of the dark paper for the 
observer's eye. Fasten the overlapping edges of these papers to 
the glass with mucilage. Then cover the sides of the prism with 
the dark paper. 

Drop a few bits of colored glass, or beads, through the hole, and 



EXPOSITION 223 

turn the writing paper end to the light. Place your eye at the hole 
and keep the prism slowly turning. 

A kaleidoscope made in this manner is very serviceable. 

Beard, " American Boy's Handy Book " 

Fifth Year — Second Half 
The Fire-Drill 

Clang! Clang! Clang! Three bells! Every boy in the school 
knows what that signal means. Perfect sUence reigns. All eyes 
are centered on the teacher awaiting his (or her) commands. In 
less than thirty seconds, in response to* the teacher's brief, quiet, 
" Class, stand," a line is formed with the class president in the 
lead. 

A second beU rings. This is a signal for the class to move. 
Quickly but quietly the boys move to their allotted places in the 
yard. On arriving there they stand in rigid postures awaiting the 
principal's visit of inspection. To meet the approval of the princi- 
pal there must be absolute quiet and perfect Hnes. 

A whistle is now blown which is the signal for the boys to "about 
face " and return to their rooms. This part of the drill must be in 
keeping with the remainder of the drill, i.e., it must be executed 
quickly and quietly. 

Speed in execution and perfect order are the requisites of a good 
fire-driU. 

Sixth Year — First Half 

The True Gentleman 

Boys make a great mistake about the term "the true gentleman." 
A gentleman is one who can live at ease, they think, — a rich, popular 
citizen who is honored for his position. If this were a correct view, 
comparatively few boys could become a gentleman. But it is an 
error; and it should be discarded as unworthy of thought or attention. 
Any boy can develop into a true gentleman, if he wUl, no matter how 
himible his lot in Kfe. 

A man may be poor, unhonored, and probably uncultured, never- 
theless his gentleness, kindness, fidelity, or a sense of obligation and 



224 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

honor prove that he is a gentleman. He is manly, thoughtful of 
others, and a true friend. 

Sir PhiUp Sidney was the pattern to all England of a perfect gentle- 
man; but, then, he was the hero that, on the field of Tutthan, pushed 
away the cup of cold water from his own fevered and parched Hps, 
and held it out to the dying soldier at his side. 

Washington was a gentleman of the old school whose bow of rec- 
ognition was like a blessing to both old and young. One day, in 
company with a friend, he passed a colored man, who saluted him 
with respect. Washington acknowledged his pohteness with a bow, 
whereupon his friend objected to such deference to a negro. "Would 
you have him be more gentlemanly than I?" answered the great man. 

A man once foimd fault with Robert Burns for bowing in too 
friendly a fashion to a farmer in the streets of Edinburg. Burns 
repHed, "It was not the greatcoat, the scone bonnet, and the Saxm- 
ders boot-hose that I spoke to, but the man that was in them." 
Burns was a gentleman. 

These facts show that neither dress, aristocratic airs, nor anything 
of that sort can make a gentleman. Simphcity rather than affec- 
tation, honesty rather than hypocrisy, a noble aim rather than 
arrogant pride, gentleness rather than overbearing assumption, resolu- 
tion rather than effeminacy, and character rather than mannerism, 
constitutes the true gentleman. 

— Adapted from Thayer's "Ethics of Success." 

Sixth Year — Second Half 

Spiders and Insects 

Spiders are not insects. Many people think that spiders and 
insects belong to the same family. 

The body of an insect is divided into three parts. If you examine 
the body of a spider, you wiU find it divided into only two parts. 
Spiders have four pairs of legs; insects have only three pairs of legs. 
Spiders have four simple eyes; insects, on the other hand, have com- 
pound eyes. 

If you covdd look inside the body of a spider, you would see that 
it does not breathe as insects do. All insects breathe through httle 



EXPOSITION 225 

tubes that run all over the body, and open into a row of holes along 
each side. A few spiders have air tubes also, but the breathing 
apparatus of the greater number of spiders consists of Httle air sacs 
opening on the under surface of the body. 

Insects always go through a number of changes after they are 
hatched; but the spider undergoes no transformation. A young 
spider is of the same shape as an old one. So, you see that spiders 
are not insects. 

All spiders spin webs of some sort through all their lives; while 
no insect can spin a web of any kind after it has passed through the 
second stage. The silkworm can spin, but when the sUkworm be- 
comes a moth, it can spin no more. 

In just the same way that the first step in the study of the 
description should be to show a picture of the object to be 
described, so the introductory step in an exposition should be 
to make the object or to do the thing. The model suggested 
for the sixth year is static, and is intended to develop certain 
ideas in the technique of this form of composition. In the 
fourth and fifth years, however, the model is based upon some 
actual event or game. Before writing the composition, in fact 
before studying the model, the children either should go through 
the action itself or should be interested observers while others 
are doing it. In the fourth year the members of the class 
may arrange to play a game of hand-ball in the yard, and the 
selection of the players and assignment to their respective places, 
and the conduct of the game, should be actually gone through. 
Thereupon, the class should return to the room and an oral 
account of what has just been done should be given. Wher- 
ever possible, the names of the players should be mentioned. 
If the boy who is giving an account of the game is one who 
took part, he should be required to use the first person in his 
exposition. 

In the second half of the fourth year, the teacher should 
actually make a kaleidoscope in the class room. The class may 



226 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

note what the teacher is doing, even writing down the list of 
the materials employed, and the order in which they are put 
together. In the fifth year, fire-drill should be held so as to 
give an immediate and concrete presentation of that which is 
to form the subject matter of the exposition. 

After this the treatment is extremely simple. In general 
it may be said that an exposition consists of three parts. 
First, the materials; secondly, their putting together; thirdly, 
their use. This plan is of equal value whether one is telling 
of the making of an object, or of the playing of a game. In 
the fifth year, the model brings in two valuable points, one of 
which is entirely new in the work thus far outlined. The first 
has already been used in the description. It is to show the 
value of the abrupt introduction in attracting and riveting the 
attention of the reader. The new point is the use of the present 
tense for the purpose of securing vividness and giving the air 
of suppressed excitement. It will require careful attention on 
the part of the teacher to have the children keep this tense 
uniform throughout the composition. 

In the sixth year, the model for the first half is purely formal, 
and the particular aim of the teacher should be to show how an 
anecdote may be used to make clear an idea in the mind of the 
writer. The model for the second half is to show the value and 
the use of contrast and comparison for the purpose of making 
clear two related objects. It is unnecessary to dwell at length 
on the mode of development. 

Summary. — The writing of an exposition should go hand in hand 
with the action that is the subject of the composition. This form of 
exercise may be made to afford valuable practice in the use of the 
present tense. 



CHAPTER XXI 
THE CORRECTION OF COMPOSITIONS 

It is probable that if teachers were asked why the correction 
of class exercises in composition is included as part of the work, 
in nine cases out of ten they would answer that the object is 
to secure a correct form of composition. It is this notion of 
the purpose of the work, together with the methods that are 
determined by this idea, that has made the work in composition 
correction so unsatisfactory in the past. Here even more than 
in any other branch of the work the result or the product is of 
slight importance compared with the power which it should be 
the aim of the teacher to develop. Very few of us indeed are 
so facile with our pens that we can turn out in a first draft a 
perfect copy of what we wish to say. Most of us are compelled 
to look over our work carefully, to correct it, to be perpetually 
on the lookout for errors in English, in punctuation, and to a 
somewhat less degree in spelling, / It should be the aim of the 
teacher to give to the children the power intelligently to look 
over their work with a view to bringing that work up to the 
standard of correctness. Moreover, it should be the aim of 
the teacher to give to the children certain ideals of correct 
expression, the application of which will constitute the actual 
work of correction. 

It would be too much to expect that in the elementary school 
individuality of style should be developed. If it be true that 
the style is the man, it is impossible that there should be a 
peculiarly distinctive style before there is a complete develop- 
ment and assertion of the individual. It is a very rare thing 



228 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

to have a distinctive style of penmanship among children below 
the secondary school. How much more rare, therefore, would 
it be to find a child who has already developed a uniqueness of 
literary expression. Three fundamental qualities of style may, 
however, even though indirectly, be brought to the focalized 
consciousness of the children. It is not necessary that the 
principles of these qualities of style be impressed upon the chil- 
dren nor is it even necessary or desirable that the children should 
know the names of the qualities as such. It will be quite suf- 
ficient for them to be required to put into actual use those forms 
of expression which will result in the qualities desired. These 
elements of style are the familiar ones known as clearness, 
force, and elegance. The function of clearness is to enable 
the writer to make himself understood; that of force, to hold 
the attention or the interest of the reader; and that of elegance, 
to please the reader. In other words, clearness will make an 
appeal to the intellectual side, force to the emotions, and ele- 
gance to the taste. From the very beginning of the work in 
the study of the models in reading lessons, and in the teacher's 
own estimate of the children's work, there should be reference 
continually made to phrases and words which will give these 
qualities. Clearness, of course, wUl readily appeal to the 
children. Force and elegance are to be presented to them 
through the actual cases where by the proper choice of phrase, 
they will bring about the desired effects. 

When we come, however, to the matter of formal correction 
of pupils' work, we are brought face to face with one of the most 
important problems in connection with composition. As has 
already been suggested, it must carefully be borne in mind 
that the object is not the reproduction of a perfect composi- 
tion. It should be the aim of the teacher to develop in the 
child a power of correction. Hence, there must, in the first 
place, be some degree of progression in the work of correction. 
It will be entirely useless to attempt to correct everything in 



THE CORRECTION OF COMPOSITIONS 229 

every composition. No child should be expected to turn out an 
absolutely perfect paper. If we are aiming to secure a habit of 
correct expression, the children must be allowed to focalize upon 
habits, one at a time, and not be asked to form twenty, thirty, 
or forty different habits of correct expression simultaneously. 

To select merely at random the different forms of speech 
upon which the teacher should concentrate in any single month 
or in any single period, would be totally arbitrary and an almost 
hopeless task. If our work were not to a great extent deter- 
mined by the exigencies of a large school system, we would say 
that the teacher has merely to determine what is the most 
common error in the class during any one exercise and to 
concentrate upon that. In every properly graded course, 
however, there should be, from, let us say, the second year 
through the sixth, a carefully graded series of drills on errors 
in common speech. For example in the third year, the emphasis 
might be upon the singular and the plural verbs. In the fourth 
year, it might be on the right use of comparatives and superla- 
tives. In the fifth year, on the right use of tenses; and in the 
sixth year, on the right use of pronouns. A fair sample of such 
a graded course is that in use in the public schools in New York 
City. 

In the past, all work of this kind has been largely unproduc- 
tive. That is to say, the teachers have worked at this matter of 
correction with zeal and with earnestness; and yet results have 
been far from commensurate with the amount of effort they 
have put forth. The reason for this is not far to seek. With 
the average teacher, the test of the successful teaching of a 
drill upon one of the common errors is the ability of the child 
to attack a number of sentences which contain examples of 
this error, and to recast the sentences in correct form. As a 
matter of fact, however, the real test of success should be the 
power to use these forms correctly in the course of regular com- 
position work. The average teacher measures her success in 



230 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

teaching by the work of the children when correct expression is 
in the focus of their consciousness. The real test comes when 
the expression of a vital content occupies the focus of conscious- 
ness, while the desire to retain correctness of form is relegated 
to the margin. 

We need a series of exercises in which the children may 
make use of what they have learned in formal drill lessons, 
but make use in such a way as to duplicate as far as possible 
the actual condition which characterizes the situation in life. 
In other words, when the children are no longer in school they 
will not be writing with their minds centered upon this rule 
of grammar or that correct idiom. Their most vital interest 
will be in what they are saying, and correct expression should 
be a matter of habit to a great extent. There should be a feel- 
ing for the right form without hesitating concerning its proper 
use. The extent to which a child will be able to form this 
desired habit of correct expression will be determined by the 
extent to which there is a motive for the study of the correct 
form. In the ordinary method, the teacher presents inductively 
or deductively the correct form, has many examples, gives 
continued drill and then expects the children always to use 
the correct form in their written and spoken language. But 
there has really been no vital motive for the study of the form 
and, hence, the use of the correct form has never become woven 
into the experience of the child. The result is that when he 
writes or speaks, he does so with a complete disregard of all the 
rules of correct expression so carefully drilled by the teacher. 

It is suggested that a much better mode of procedure would 
be one like the following: The graded cotu^se of study will re- 
quire certain drills upon correct form up to the sixth year. The 
teacher should be provided with two distinct lists. In the first 
place, she should know what are the forms that must be taken 
up in her own grade. Secondly, she should know what forms 
have been taken up in the earlier grades. 



THE CORRECTION OF COMPOSITIONS 231 

With the first named Hst, however, it would be a mistake, 
although it is a common practice, to have the teacher take up 
the first error in this list, to teach it, drill upon it, and then 
ask the children carefully to observe the correct form when they 
come to give expression to their thoughts. There is no reason 
why a certain sequence should be arbitrarily adopted. The 
order in which the forms are to be studied is determined only 
by the needs of the children. If a number of children in the 
writing of a composition make an error like, "He tried to do it 
as good as he could," that is the time to take up the common 
errors made by the careless use of adverbs for adjectives, and 
vice versa. The incorrect form may be shown. If necessary, it 
may be written on the blackboard. The correct form should 
be put in its place and the reason for the correction should be 
given. In the lower grades this reason cannot be given with any 
degree of technical accuracy. In the higher grades if the study 
of technical grammar has begun, the reasons are to be given 
in the terminology that is in use in the study of grammar. The 
point we are trying to make is simply this: The motive for 
the study of the correct form should come from the feeling that 
the children have that the incorrect form has occurred in many 
of their compositions and that the correction of this form is 
necessary if they are to write with accuracy and precision. 
The advantage does not lie alone in the fact that we have really 
supplied a motive. The application to the composition work 
is direct and immediate, and there are more chances that there 
will be a general use of this correct form in later composition. 

The period for the study of this form should, of course, be 
separate from the usual composition period. In the course of 
the writing, the teacher walks around the room and notices 
some one common error. If this is one that has already been 
corrected in the earlier grades, the teacher should stop the work 
of the class, call attention to the error, call upon the children 
to recall the correct form as they learned it in an earlier grade, 



232 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

to give the reason for the correction, and to look through their 

composition at once with a view to testing their own work in 

the Hght of the freshly recalled knowledge. 

/ If the error noted by the teacher in her walk around the room, 

/ is one that has not yet been taken up in the course and is, in 

I fact, set down for focalized study in a higher grade, the teacher 

may give the correct form directly to the individual child or, 

if necessary, to the entire class and go on with the work 

without any attempt at explanation. 

If, in the third place, the error noted by the teacher is one 
that is part of her own grade work and has not yet been taken 
up by the class, she should make note of the error and, if possi- 
ble, copy sentences from different compositions which contain 
examples of the mistake. With each copy she should write the 
name of the pupil from whose composition the sentences were 
taken. The period for the study of this form should come 
between that devoted to the writing of the composition and the 
period set aside for the class correction. During this period the 
teacher should drill on the form, should give many examples, 
among them the sentences copied from the children's com- 
positions. Then the application of the work should be made. 

It will be found desirable to have the compositions of the 
children written either in a book to be known as the "Book of 
Compositions," or kept in envelopes, one envelope for each child. 
When the form has been taught, the teacher may call upon the 
class to take out the envelope, or if they are in the teacher's 
possession, the envelopes should be distributed. The pupils 
then take out all the compositions written by them since the 
beginning of the term, and look through them with a view to 
finding out whether there are to be found any examples of the 
error which has just been taken up in the work of the class. 
If there are, the correction is to be made at once. Sometimes 
it will be found advisable to have pupils correct compositions 
other than their own. Sometimes compositions may be read 



THE CORRECTION OF COMPOSITIONS 233 

aloud. As the work of the term goes onward, the number of 
compositions in an envelope will become so great that it will 
be impossible for the children to go through them all. The 
pupils should, therefore, be encouraged to select as early as 
possible what will be known as their masterpieces or best work, 
those which it is their aim to whip into as nearly perfect form 
as possible. When the period arrives for the application of the 
principle of correct expression which has just been learned, the 
children concentrate upon these compositions so that when 
the work of the term is over, these should represent as 
nearly perfect pieces of work as they can do. 

In the higher grades this correlation between correct expres- 
sion and correction of compositions should be made through 
the medium of the study of grammar. One of the fundamental 
purposes of English grammar is to give to the children a rational 
basis for correct expression. It should, therefore, be the aim 
of the teacher in connection with the study of each part of 
speech, of each new inflection, and the like, to develop also some 
law of sjmtax and to apply this law to the correction of the 
children's compositions in some such way as that suggested in 
connection with the drill on common errors of speech. 

Much of the correction will of necessity be made by the 
teacher; always, however, in the presence of the pupU. It is 
a sheer waste of time for the teacher to make a great number 
of corrections on a child's composition when the child is not 
there to see the corrections made, to be questioned, and to be 
led to see wherein he might improve his work. In the individ- 
ual conference which the teacher will hold with the pupil, there 
are three possible ways of correction. If the error which the 
teacher sees is one that has already been taken up during the 
term or in the lower class, a mere line under the incorrect form 
or an X in the margin to show that there is an error on that 
line, will be sufficient to call the attention of the child to the 
mistake and to lead him to substitute the correct form. In 



234 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

all cases where the correction is made, the child should feel 
free to draw a line through his work and to insert the correct 
form. If the error is one that is based on some principle of 
grammar already taught, the teacher may write in the margin 
a word or two to suggest to the child the principle of grammar 
that has been violated; and once more the correction should 
be made by the child unaided. Finally, if the error is of a sort 
that is beyond the knowledge of technical grammar which the 
child already possesses, or is one of those to be taken up later 
in the course, the teacher should merely insert the correct form 
in full for the child. 

The code of correction should be simple. Frequently a 
criticism will be simply a question like "Why is this apostrophe 
before the sf or "Why did you put this comma here?" or 
"Why did you write this word with a capital?" Where the 
error is indicated by a word written in the margin, this word 
should not be too general; thus, "grammar" written in the 
margin means absolutely nothing to the child. The suggestion 
should be much more specific, such as, "agreement of subject 
and predicate," "use of adjective," "case of pronovm," "tense 
of verb," etc. In spelling, the error may be indicated by a line 
drawn through the incorrect word; an omission, by the caret; 
an error in capitalization, by a slanting line drawn through 
the error; an error in punctuation, by an x at the exact point 
of the error; a capital P will indicate the paragraph, while 
a curved line from the last word of one paragraph to the first 
word of the next, that there should have been no paragraph 
division. 

Summary. — The aim of the correction of compositions is not so 
much to secure a perfect product as it is to form the habit of self- 
criticism in the child. As a basis, pupils should be made fanuliar with 
correct idioms and should later formulate principles which will guide 
them in improving their own work. No drill in the correction of 
errors is complete imtU the child has had an opportunity to use the 



THE CORRECTION OF COMPOSITIONS 235 

correct form in his written or oral work. The correct idioms to be 
taught in the school course should be carefully arranged by grades. 
Within each grade, any particular idiom should be taken up only 
when its use in incorrect form has shown itself to be common in the 
class. Wherever possible, the course should be correlated with the 
study of technical grammar. By reviewing earher compositions of 
the class, sufficient driU in correction and repetition of the right 
form may be assured. Correction to be of greatest value must be 
personal and must result not from the dictation of the teacher but 
from the self -activity of the pupil. A simple code of correction shoxxld 
be devised. 



CHAPTER XXII 
COMPOSITION 

Composition — Suggestions and Devices 

The teacher will find that her most serious problem will be 
to give the children enough opportunity to write. Too fre- 
quently the work done by the children is restricted to one 
or two compositions during the week. It will be found valuable 
for the teacher to have informal composition work every day 
in the year. If a teacher wUl examine her ordinary plan of 
work, she will find that she is spending much more time teach- 
ing about language than she is in giving the children an oppor- 
tunity to use what she is teaching in the course of their regular 
written work. We take up rules and constructions and we seem 
to forget that the only way that a child will ever learn to use 
correct language is by using it. We take up the study of quota- 
tion marks, and we think our work is complete when the chil- 
dren have done a regular dictation exercise involving the use 
of the quotation mark, and have produced fairly accurate 
results. We teach the use of the apostrophe, and we give sets 
of words and ask the children to write these words in the singu- 
lar and plural possessive. We give drill on the spelling of 
words, and we give much less practise in the use of these words 
in regular composition work. It must be remembered that 
practically every dictation lesson is deductive, and that a 
correct application is indefinitely easier when the principle is 
held in the focus of consciousness than it would be if the center 
of attention were directed to the content and the principle rele- 
gated to the margin. 



COMPOSITION — SUGGESTIONS AND DEVICES 237 

It is here suggested that every child have a composition 
book for informal work. This should be in addition to the regu- 
larly recognized work taken up in connection with the study of 
the models. The ingenuity of the teacher will suggest a name 
to be given to this book. Titles such as these may be used: 
My Diary, Interesting Occurrences in the Class Room, What I 
am Thinking About, What I am Doing, What We are Learning, 
Stories of School Life, My Daily Calendar, Interesting Lessons, 
A Handy Book of Information, etc. The children should be 
practically unrestricted in their choice of subjects. They may 
enter a reproduction of a reading lesson, a review of some book 
they have read, a summary of a story told by the teacher or 
read by the children, reports on current topics, reports on topics 
assigned to the class for investigation and study in connection 
with geography, history, etc., with or without the text book, 
reports on things seen on the way to or from school, descrip- 
tions of experiments, descriptions of pictiues, narratives of 
personal experiences, answers to questions set by the teacher 
as research questions, a transcription of some proverb with an 
explanation of what the proverb means. 

In the higher grades, the children may be given a set of 
readers from a lower grade, and they may be asked to rewrite 
the short stories in longer form, or to condense the stories into 
a few well-written paragraphs. The teacher may prepare long 
sentences and ask the children to condense them into ten-word 
telegrams. PupUs may be asked to write out a story in the 
form of a series of letters, or a series of telegrams, so that 
the succession of letters or telegrams will tell the story. The 
teacher may give the children a number of words like crow, lead, 
razor, gold, ox, bee, grass, thunder, vinegar, lamb, line, glass, 
sky, honey, lightning, snail, iron, snow, black, clock, and ask 
them to make comparisons. For instance, they will write a 
sentence which will tell that something was as black as a crow, 
or as white as snow, or that some one was as busy as a bee, and 



238 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

so on. Again, there may be a story told by means of the tele- 
phonic conversation in which the reader must infer what is 
being said at the other end of the telephone from what the child 
reports as the conversation heard at this end. 

The incentives for such composition work will be, first, the 
interest in giving expression to the subject itself; secondly, 
the praise of the teacher; thirdly, the placing of the best com- 
position book on the wall, hanging it by a ribbon or a string from 
a hook so that it will be easily seen by the principal or by a 
visitor; fourthly, the publication of the best work in the school 
paper, or reading the best compositions to the assembled 
school. Occasionally the work of the children should be looked 
at by the teacher. She may select some child whose work is 
the best for the week, and when a visitor or the principal comes 
into the room and asks for examples of the composition work, 
the teacher may call upon this boy to read his best work. Every 
boy will know what is his masterpiece, and will take pride in 
reading it to visitors. 

Additional suggestions of subjects for informal work to be 
done by the children in their composition books are submitted. 

I. Unfinished Stories. 

In the higher grades, when the children have learned how 
to reproduce stories, when they have mastered the difficulties 
of an outline, and when they know how to develop a story from 
an outline, they should be given the beginning of some story 
which the teacher will write in a half-dozen lines or so on a piece 
of oak-tag, and put in some conspicuous place in the room. 
The informal work for that day will be the finishing of the story. 
This, and all similar work, should be done at odd moments, 
before nine, before one, in the study period. It must be ac- 
knowledged that there will be a tendency to free communica- 
tion. There need be no fear, however, that this will result in 
a weakening of the discipline. Communication is a natvual 
instinct in children, and where it is used for class purposes, 



COMPOSITION — SUGGESTIONS AND DEVICES 239 

there can be no question that it will serve to build up a better 
spirit in the class. These stories, of course, should be adapted 
to the grade. There will be individuality in the work, and 
if, after every child has had an opportunity to write his own 
version of the story, the teacher were to read the story as 
it really was completed by the author, the children will have 
an opportunity of making individual criticism of their own 
powers of invention. 

2. Imaginary Adventures. 

Children may write on — My Trip in a Balloon; What I 
saw from the Conning Tower of our Submarine; A Hair-breadth 
Escape; and so on. Many of our school subjects for composi- 
tion are too matter of fact, and the result is that the impulse 
to imaginative creation is satisfied by the children through the 
reading of dime novels and the like. We may be able to do 
something of value by giving the children opportunity to write 
on subjects that give free rein to their romancing tendency. 

5. Descriptions oj Pictures in Poems. 

From the poems studied by the children as memory gems, 
they should be encouraged to select pictures which they will 
describe in full detail. Sometimes they may find and put into 
their composition book a picture which seems to fit the descrip- 
tion of the poem most closely. The composition may be devoted 
to showing the points of resemblance. 

4. The Picture Gallery. 

Here the children should attempt to describe the appear- 
ance of some favorite character, or of some noted person 
at some important point in his career. For instance, "How 
did Washington look as he took the oath of office? " "How did 
Nathan Hale look just before he was executed?" "Describe 
Paul Revere as he looked while waiting for the signal." 

5. Imaginary Autobiographies. 

This topic is touched on in many books on Composition, and 
need not be explained in full here. 



240 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

6. Dramatic Compositions. 

Arrange with two or more boys to have them make up a 
little play, keeping its central idea secret from the rest of the 
class. Have them act the play in pantomime before the class, 
and let the exercise in the composition book be the writing 
out of the story told by the boys in their acting. 

7. Moving Pictures. 

In these days when the moving picture show plays so large 
a part in the experiences of our city children, it will be found 
interesting to have the children write in their composition book 
the story of some play which they saw through pictures at the 
show. It may be objected that this will put a premium on 
having the children visit the show. In answer it need scarcely 
be said that there is very little danger that we, as teachers, 
will put into the minds of the children a desire not already 
present. 

8. The Class Newspaper. 

It will be possible only to touch upon this point. The use 
of the mimeograph, and the printing of enough copies to supply 
every member of the class, and to give one to each of the other 
classes of the grade, is all that will be necessary. The chil- 
dren will be able to get ideas for a good breezy newspaper. 

p. Geography. 

Imaginary trips to different countries will be valuable and 
will, moreover, furnish an excellent opportunity to give a review 
of work in geography. 

Almost any book on English composition will give to the 
teacher many more examples of interesting subjects that may 
be given to the children. A dozen or more may be put on the 
board at the beginning of each week, so that the children will 
feel free to make a selection. Moreover, it should be impressed 
upon the class that it is not at all necessary for them to select 
as the subject of their composition work any topic on the list 
given by teacher. The aim should be to have the pupils feel 



COMPOSITION— SUGGESTIONS AND DEVICES 241 

that this work is to be the natural and unrestrained expression 
of their own ideas. Finally, it must be pointed out that there 
should be no limit set on the length or on the number. In 
every case, the teacher should insist that the form be good, 
penmanship careful, all work done in ink, and so on. But it 
would be a great mistake on the one hand to insist that the 
compositions reach a certain length, or on the other hand, to 
demand that there be no composition beyond a certain length. 
Children should feel that a composition should be just as long 
as is necessary to express completely their ideas, and that it 
should be no longer. 



CHAPTER XXIII 
GRAMMAR 

General Considerations 

It is significant to note that there is a pronounced tendency 
in many quarters to question whether the study of grammar 
should have any place at all in the elementary curriculum. 
This doubt is by no means a new thing in education; but at 
no earlier period in the course of development has it been so 
permanent or been advocated by so many leading thinkers. 
It will cast much light on the point of view we are to adopt in 
our treatment of this subject if we enter somewhat into detail 
in discussing this question with a view to ascertaining why the 
study has fallen into disrepute, and wherein reforms are neces- 
sary, if indeed we are to hold that grammar should remain a 
part of the course of study. 

In all systems of education in which the aim is something 
apart from participation in real life, the content as well as the 
expressive side of the educative process is found in books; and 
hence, language and the formal aspects of language become 
important subjects of study. In China, for example, the right 
understanding of the classics and the faithful reproduction of 
their style are the aims which the so-called culture strove to 
reaKze. To whatever extent it may be said that the Chinese 
language has a grammar, the study of this grammar was the 
most vital part of the education of the time. It is true that 
owing to the peculiar nature of the tongue, grammar resolves 
itself rather into a study of location and combination, but 
still the content of the educative process is foimd in books, the 



GRAMMAR 243 

expression of the activity of the learner is in the form of written 
exercises, the main task he has to perform is to overcome the 
difi&culties of diction, arrangement, and style. It is altogether 
probable that the cultured Chinese speak with a greater degree 
of purity than do those who have had none of this training. 
But it must be realized that this increased correctness comes 
rather as a concomitant effect of the study of the language. 
At no time was the attainment of this power of cultured speech 
used as an impelling motive in the process of learning. At 
no time was the application to spoken language made the test 
of the real comprehension of the study of the classics. As a 
matter of fact the real test of results was given in a field alto- 
gether separated from real life. At no time was written lan- 
guage considered a mark of power; the ability to speak well was 
never tested. In such a scheme of education the study of the 
formal aspects of language inevitably plays an important part. 

We have treated in this detail the characteristics of the t5^i- 
cal aspects of the relation of formal study to the general educa- 
tive process in the case of Chinese education, because to a large 
degree this relation will be foimd to be the characteristic in 
any system of education which finds its inspiration in books. 
In that period of Roman education which is represented by 
Quintihan, the aim was to produce orators who could speak 
with perfect accuracy; and although to a certain extent Quin- 
tihan is different from some other writers of this period in that 
he lays much stress upon the content of the speeches, even he 
shows in every step in his system that his aim was to secure 
formal and technical accuracy. 

It may be well to analyze in a brief way his method of teach- 
ing reading, composition, and grammar. He adopts the 3301- 
thetic method; that is to say, he has the child begin at the 
age of three with the study of letters. At once, this puts the 
stamp of formalism upon his entire method. If the progress 
which has been made in education since the time of Froebel 



244 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

stands for anything, it means that the educative process finds 
its rational beginning in the ideas and instinctive activities of 
children. Applied to language, this implies that the start- 
ing point should be the expression in language, at first spoken, 
later written, of thoughts revealing the developing person- 
ality of the child. The method which we have suggested for 
the teaching of reading and the advantages of an approach 
through stories over an approach synthetically through the 
study of letters, vowels, and words, illustrates what is meant 
by the effect which the new point of view should have upon our 
methods. We need not refer at length to those instances in 
the method of Quintilian which show us that here and there 
he had essentially correct ideas of child-nature. While to-day 
we realize that instinctive activities are the keynote of all 
method, Quintilian used them only in the employment of 
devices. For example, he used the play instinct for the pur- 
pose of fixing the shapes of letters. He had ivory blocks and 
letters cut in wooden blocks, the grooves followed by a stylus 
held in the hands of the children. From letters he proceeded 
to the study of syllables, drilling on these so that the children 
might pronounce what had gone before while the eye took in 
what followed. When he came to the study of words, he again 
unconsciously emphasized the formal attitude that he had 
adopted in the study of the language. He insisted that the 
children should be called upon to write imcommon words, on 
the plea that if they wrote those words which frequently occur, 
they would be wasting time. In the later stages, when poetry 
was studied, it is true that some attempt was made at under- 
standing the content; but the real aim was to analyze the 
construction of the poem in addition to memorizing it, to pro- 
ceed to a study of the parts of speech, the prosody, and the 
choice of words. 

It is quite probable that a method of this sort will produce 
formal accuracy in the use of language. That is to say, this 



GRAMMAR 245 

is a method apparently adequate to meet its purposes. But 
in education the product is never the most important element. 
It has well been said that with unHmited patience, with the 
proper amount of external control, the normal child can be 
taught to do anything. There are, however, two other factors 
which enter into the problem, and which are of tremendous im- 
portance. In the first place, how much waste of energy is 
there in the process of compelling children to do things which 
are not naturally expressive of their developing personality; 
and secondly, to what extent does a method like that outlined 
give the children power to attack situations different from 
those through which they gained their knowledge? Power 
to meet the new and economy in the attainment of what we 
possess are set at naught by any method of language teaching 
which is based upon a logic of the subject. 

In the Middle Ages, with varjdng forms, we find educational 
systems that have their source entirely, or almost entirely, 
in books. This is true throughout the period of the Church 
Fathers, throughout that of the Schoolmen, and in that phase 
of realism which has been called "humanistic realism." It is 
true that in the broader himianism, the study of the forms of 
language was subordinated to the comprehension of the con- 
tent, but the inevitable change soon took place. Whenever 
any system of education derives its inspiration from books, 
sooner or later, the entire method of that education will become 
formal, its method based upon the analysis of the style of the 
language found in the books, and its aim the reproduction of 
that style with a minimum expenditure of energy. Formal 
teaching is always easier for the teacher than that which waits 
upon the development of the child-mind; and accordingly, 
in the history of education we find that the broader humanism 
soon gave way to the narrower phases. 

In the northern part of Europe this ideal was crystallized 
by Sturm, and the method which he applied to the teaching 



246 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

of Latin has had its influence on the teaching of language even 
to the present time. In fact, we may go even further. All 
mistakes made in the treatment of Enghsh grammar in our 
schools to-day are due to the persistence of the Sturm ideal. 
If there is any objection at all to the presence of grammar 
in the course of study it is because the subject is looked upon 
from the formal aspect; it is because an attempt is made to 
reach a certain formal accuracy piu-ely in a synthetic way; 
it is because a knowledge of rules, of modes of analysis, and of 
parsing, is considered a desirable thing apart from the applica- 
tion of these rules. 

It is true that an attempt is made to apply to the speech 
of the children all that has been learned in grammar. But it 
is one thing to secure good results when the mind is focalized 
upon a process, and it is quite another to attain similar results 
when the center of attention is upon the content. The accuracy 
which was easy of attainment when there was a concentration 
of consciousness upon this process becomes a very difficult 
thing to achieve when the process is marginated. Every 
teacher has met a situation of this sort. A class is able to imder- 
stand a rule of syntax, is able to apply this rule with absolute 
accuracy in the period devoted to the correction of sentences. 
Yet, in the written compositions and in the oral work of the 
children, held perhaps on the same day that the driU in syntax 
has taken place, they will, with utter disregard of what has 
just been learned, commit the very errors which would at 
once appeal to them as things to be avoided were their atten- 
tion directed exclusively to these forms as such. 

What then is to be our attitude toward the teaching of 
grammar? Are we to say, that because there is so little carry- 
ing over of power from the formal study to power in correct 
expression, the formal study is altogether a waste process in 
the elementary school? Hardly. It is true that all the formal 
study in the world will never make a man speak the language 



GRAMMAR 247 

of a cultured person. On the other hand, mere acquaintance 
with correct forms through models presented by the teacher 
in her own speech, and through the reading of the best litera- 
ture, while it makes for a higher degree of perfection than 
could be attained were these models not presented, will never 
produce a perfect use of language. We have referred a number 
of times to the fallacy implied in the theory of incidental teach- 
ing. If a child is really to know a thing, whether this be a 
matter of form or a matter of content, he must concentrate 
upon that thing. We may call it focalization, as the psy- 
chologists do, or absorption and reflection as the pedagogues 
do, but we must recognize from the outset that only that is 
learned upon which consciousness is centered. Even a habit 
which is based upon activities diflferent in the slightest degree 
from the natiural tendency of the child, can never be economi- 
cally formed unconsciously. It is one thing to speak with a 
reasonable degree of correctness because one has been accus- 
tomed to hear only correct forms in the course of one's 
development. It is another to be able to rationalize the use 
of these correct forms and in that way to extend one's mastery 
over expressions which have not come within the limit of one's 
inunediate experience. It is the second kind of training that 
the study of grammar should aim to give^ 

But the mere study of form, that is of rules, and of modes 
of analysis and parsing, does not necessarily imply a carrying 
over into application. Whether this study will or will not 
find an inevitable and natural usefulness in the ordinary lan- 
guage of the children depends upon the method of approach. 
Children will speak grammatically, that is, they will speak with 
due regard to the rules which are based upon the best usage, 
only if immediately below the level of consciousness there is 
within easy recall a knowledge of rules derived from the lan- 
guage they are employing. That is to say, there must be an 
immediate and close association between every rule of grammar 



248 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

and the language that is used. In oiir ordinary teaching, we 
attempt to get this kind of association by having the children 
study some rule. Then by giving them a series of twenty, 
thirty, or forty incorrect sentences connected with their lessons 
or their average thinking, we call upon them to apply the rule 
in the correction of the sentences. As a matter of fact, the real 
center of this work is the rule, and the application is nothing 
but an excrescence, something foisted upon the rule because 
of some ulterior motive in the mind of the teacher, and not 
because of some inherent native demand of the rule itself, or 
some normal fimctioning of the expressive personality of the 
child. 

That the step of application is necessary, no one would dare 
to dispute; but whether the application should be of this par- 
ticular sort is a matter open to serious question. And even 
were the application of a different kind, even if we were to 
make it more vital to the children, we still should have met but 
one-half of our problem. We may rightly ask why were these 
rules selected for study? What determined the order of their 
development? Why was just this rule selected and no other? 
We should be forced to confess that our selection was based upon 
a more or less rightly conceived notion of the order of difficulty; 
that is to say, solely upon a logic of the subject. Every sub- 
ject in the course of study carries with it an inevitable logic 
which will, to a greater or less extent, determine the method of 
its presentation. In fact, we may go so far as to say that the 
systematized mass of knowledge in any branch as we possess 
it to-day has come as a result of the work of the race-mind, 
and that, therefore, the logic of a subject to some extent is 
representative of the psychological development of the race 
in its mastery of that subject. But whatever of general truth 
there may be in this statement it would not be well to apply 
it in too much detail in our attack upon any subject in the ele- 
mentary school curriculum. We must never lose sight of the 



GRAMMAR 249 

fact that the real center of the educative process is the child 
with his developing ideas, his instinctive tendencies, and his 
functioning personality. This must be always the main door 
through which we enter upon any step in teaching. 

What we have said thus far by way of introduction leads 
us then inevitably to this general statement of the method of 
procedure to be followed in the teaching of grammar. We 
should start from the actual language used by the children as 
one form of expression for the ideas which are ever forming 
in their minds. To a certain extent, because of the models 
set for them by the teachers and met in the course of their 
reading, this language will be correct. That is to say, it will 
be in accordance with the conventional usage of modern society. 
In many other particulars, however, there will be errors. 

Sometimes these errors will be due to psychological causes. 
Let us take the use of the pronoun I instead of me in such 
phrases as "between you and I" or "John gave it to him and 
I." Wherever the expressing personality is the center of 
thought, it has largely been the center of what James calls 
a "substantive state," that is, a state where the ego is focused 
upon. In the great majority of cases it is so because the ego 
has been trying to express itself. That is to say, the pronoun 
used has, in these cases, been /. The earliest phases of child 
activity are characterized by an expression of the self. The 
child tells what it has done rather than what has been done 
to it, and, therefore, there is a much more frequent use of the 
nominative case (of the pronoun 7) than of any other form. 
Consequently, by the law of habit superinduced by constant 
repetition, the pronoun I will be used wherever there is an 
attempt to express the personaUty of the speaker. This error 
may, therefore, be ascribed to a psychological cause. 

Again, let us take the case in which the children, in using 
a sentence that has two singular subjects connected by and, 
use the singular form of the verb. The power to group two 



250 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

statements is late in developing. When the child says, for 
example, "The bean and the pea is growing in our window- 
box," the child concentrates first upon the idea bean, and then 
upon the idea pea, and in the scarcely measurable interval of 
time between the utterance of the word pea and the statement 
of the predicate, that is, "is growing in our window-box," 
the idea of hean has faded somewhat and the child holds in 
mind only the second idea. Consequently, as far as conscious- 
ness is concerned, the child is engaged merely in expressing the 
idea, "the pea is growing in our window-box." It is only 
much later in development that the child is able to synthesize 
and to group these in the interval between the statement of 
the subject and the statement of the predicate. It is only 
in a later period that the child is able to see both the ideas 
grouped together, to realize that two objects are spoken of, 
and that, therefore, the plural verb is called for. 

It may be said that if this is a characteristic of child-mind, 
it would be useless to attempt to teach the plural form of the 
verb with the connected subject imtil the child has developed 
sufficiently to be able to group the ideas of individuals under 
the idea of two. But it is just at this point that the study 
of grammar will be a help, for by directing attention to this 
particular form, we may hasten and facilitate the process of 
grouping. 

To cite another case which contributes to the common errors 
found in the speech of children, let us take the sentence, "He 
don't know what he is doing." Here we may say that the 
error is due to a social cause. We must not forget that, after 
all, the time spent by the child alone is small compared with 
that portion of his life which he spends with his comrades and in 
the larger life around him. If the speech of those at home and 
of his playmates on the street is incorrect, he will hear many 
expressions which, by the canons of good usage, are incorrect. 
Simply by reason of their number and of the frequency of 



GRAMMAR 251 

repetition, they will furnish him with a model that he will 
more or less consciously imitate. It is the function of grammar 
to correct the errors committed by the children because of the 
language they hear at home and on the street, and to apply to 
these solecisms rules derived from the best usage. 

Summarizing then, it will be seen that no matter how much 
we may attempt to give the children none but perfect models 
in the school, for psychological and for social reasons there 
may grow up certain forms which are at variance with what 
is usually considered correct usage. Starting from these, and 
using them as the basis for instruction, all work should proceed. 

From the inspection of many such examples, children may be 
led to see what is the incorrect form. The teacher then sup- 
plies the correct one, and leaves the children to formulate a 
reason for the correction. From this will develop the rules of 
syntax. The immediate application of these rules should be 
to other expressions used by the children either in speech or 
in writing. In this way, we have brought about what we be- 
lieve to be a method characteristic of the best teaching of the 
formal aspects of language. The rule is never taught as a 
thing in itself; it is never given except on the basis of the 
language used by the children. On the other hand, the rule 
is never left as a thing by itself; it is always applied to the 
language of the children. 

Summary. — As ordinarily understood, the aim of the teaching 
of technical grammar is to assure formal accuracy in speech and in 
writing. This aim may be secured by isolating form from content 
and concentrating upon technique and the principles underlying cor- 
rect technique. Such a procedure is wastefvd because (i) it does 
not employ an urgent motive which wUI make the learning process 
easier; (2) it does not insure the carrying over of proficiency from 
the theory to the practice. The study of grammar, Uke the study of 
technique and of habits of action which are to operate in the mar- 
gin of consciousness, must at some point in the learning process be 



252 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

focalized upon. The order of development is to some extent to be 
determined by the logic of the subject. The starting point should 
be the actual language used by the children in the expression of 
their ideas. The development of the prmciples should be inductive. 
The appUcation should be to the speech and the written work of 
the child. 



CHAPTER XXIV 
GRAMMAR (Continued) 

Correction of Errors 

From the moment that the teacher begins to place empha- 
sis upon the form of expression of the children as regards 
correctness of idiom, completeness of statement, and the 
hke, at that very moment the teaching in formal grammar 
begins. As has already been suggested, the aim is first to have 
the child, by imitation, by conscious effort, and by direct form, 
acquire habits of correct utterance, and later to analyze his 
own speech so as to form general principles which will be of 
value to him in giving a rational basis for what was first blind 
imitation. In the lowest grade of the elementary school, the 
teacher may well insist that the answers given by the children 
to the questions shall be in the form of complete sentences. 

It will be found helpful if the work in the conversation lessons 
be carried on in such a way that the children ask questions 
which are to be answered by other children rather than that 
they remain continually in the attitude of giving information. 
The asking of a question implies the previous formulation of the 
expected answer in the mind of the one who asks the ques- 
tion, and calls for a focalization upon such a form of question 
as will bring out the answer expected. The question, there- 
fore, is a much more valuable and vital means of language 
training than the answer Paradoxical as it is, the early teach- 
ing values error much more highly than it does correctness. 
It is the aim of the teacher to form right habits, and this can 
be done only if the teacher knows what are the common errors 
made by the children. Any devices which will call forth 



254 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

natural and spontaneous utterance from the children, which 
will lead them to forget the artificiality that usually character- 
izes all their school speech, which will make them depend upon 
themselves, will reproduce within the class room conditions 
like those which exist on the street, and may lead children to 
speak with the freedom that they exercise when they are not 
under immediate supervision. 

The teacher should always bear in mind that the formation 
of a habit is a purely individual matter. It is not a question 
of class instruction except where the habit refers to a detail of 
school routine. It would be well if the teacher kept on cards 
lists of the particularly persistent errors made by individual 
children: errors which the utmost expenditure of effort on his 
part does not seem to correct. When a child leaves one class 
to go to the next higher one, this card may be sent to the 
next teacher, who will add new errors committed by the child, 
and who will on the other hand cross out those which tend 
to disappear. 

It may be suggested at this point that some of the errors 
made by children, like some of the instincts which they show 
in the process of their development, have a tendency to die of 
their own accord. For example, in the lowest grades the 
teacher is driven almost distracted by the flabby "and" and 
"and so" sentence structure of the children. As a matter of 
fact there is scarcely any need of correcting this habit. It 
is true that the teacher should at times make a perfunctory 
attempt to correct the children, but this will be done merely 
to stamp her own disapproval upon the expression. It is 
not to be done so continually as to lead to an undue em- 
phasis upon the error. As the child grows older, he will, 
through the force of models that he meets in his school life and 
in his reading, drop this particular habit. It is true that this 
form of construction sometimes persists in the adult, but it is 
probably due to temperamental causes. 



GRAMMAR — CORRECTION OF ERRORS 255 

Beginning with the second half of the first year, the formal 
work on the correct forms of some of the incorrect expressions 
common to the class may be made the basis of drills. Care 
should be taken to have these forms grow out of the actual 
speech of the children. The conversation lesson as such 
should never be interrupted for the purpose of any extended 
correction on the part of the teacher. No lesson should be too 
long, nor should any attempt be made at exhaustive treatment. 
Wherever the child speaks for the purpose of giving expression 
to individual experiences, the language should be corrected in 
such a way as not to interrupt the steady flow of the thought. 

In places where certain children have made use of a sentence 
which is particularly good from the standpoint of clearness or 
brevity, the teacher may interrupt with an approving word, 
and may repeat the sentence given by the child so as to em- 
phasize it. It may even be well to write such a sentence on 
the blackboard. When the teacher notices a particular error 
occurring with a reasonable degree of frequency in the state- 
ments of the children, that error may be made the basis for a 
regular drill on the correct form. 

It should carefully be noted that this work begins only with 
the second half of the first year. Due regard for the signifi- 
cance of this later introduction will give the teacher a notion 
of the attitude she should adopt in this work. In the lowest 
grade, the teacher should note the errors made by the children, 
but she should not forget that the fundamental aim is to 
secure spontaneity and free expression. If she attempts to 
make unduly emphatic reference to the errors made by a 
child, she will embarrass the child, and may cause a certain 
hesitation to develop in speech. 

In the lower grade there should be simply "the gentle patient 
substitution of the right expression for the wrong one, with- 
out insisting upon the child's knowing that a correction was 
necessary. It is by constant imitation only that the child 



256 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

will acquire the habit of correct expression." When once, 
however, the drill on correct form has begun, it should be 
constant. It is a great mistake to reserve it only for the 
regular lesson. On the one hand, the teacher should remember 
that misplaced emphasis on form, when the aim is the develop- 
ment of content, will result in a less satisfactory rendition of 
the content. On the other hand, to allow errors to be made 
by children in the course of their speech without making any 
attempt to correct those errors, or to lead the pupils to see that 
the expressions they have used are incorrect, will separate the 
drill on correct form from its natural and inevitable applica- 
tion to the language of the children. 

No reason need be given for the correction. Mere blind 
imitation on the part of the children will residt in fixing the 
correct form if there has been proper focalization upon that 
form, and if the teacher has given svifficient opportunity for 
repetition. At no time in the course, even through the eighth 
year, should this kind of work be completely discontinued. 
In the higher grades, when certain of the rules which have been 
evolved from the philosophy of our language have been taught 
to the children, the basis of the correction may be, not the 
mere blind imitation of a model set by the teacher, but rather 
the application of a rule already developed by the children 
themselves. The following quotation from an article on 
"Language Work for the First Five Years," by Margaret 
Knox, will show how the work is to be carried on in this informal 
way. The play or game element may be safely dropped after 
the third year. 

"With the very little folks select a story in which there is 
frequent repetition of the same expression, as for example, 
the story of 'The Old Woman and Her Pig.' The child begins 
to tell the story thus: 'The rat beginned (or begun) to gnaw 
the rope.' The teacher gives the proper expression, saying, 
'The rat began to gnaw the rope.' The child accepts it, and 



GRAMMAR— CORRECTION OF ERRORS 257 

goes on with the story, using the correct expression ten or a 
dozen times in the next minute. What better exercise could 
there be for the fixing of that correct form? 'Cock Robin' 
is a story that gives opportunity for the repetition of 'said' 
instead of the ilUterate 'says/ for the use of 'I saw,' instead 
of 'I seen,' and also for correct use of the pronoun 'I' instead 
of 'me.'" 

Or a game may be devised which provides opportunity for 
reiteration of the form which we desire to impress; as, for 
example, the game which for the want of a better name let 
us call the "I saw" box. The teacher wishes to correct the 
"I seen" habit. She has on her desk a box filled with all sorts 
of objects. These she holds up before the class in rapid succes- 
sion, then hides them, calling upon the little folks to tell what 
they saw. 

Teacher: "What did you see?" 

Child: "I seen a top," or "I sawn a top," or "I sawr a top." 

Teacher: "I saw a top. What did you see?" calling on the 
next child. Noting the correction that his teacher has made, 
he answers, "I saw a ball"; in this way, there is repetition of 
"I saw" until the article held up is not recognized. In the 
excitement of answering, some child is again trapped into 
making the "I seen" mistake; here is another chance for 
the teacher to use the correct expression. In such a game the 
opportunity for using "I saw" has occurred perhaps twenty 
times or more. By devices of this sort, which hold the atten- 
tion of the child through pleasant interest, the correct form 
is unconsciously fixed in the child's mind, and will find expres- 
sion in his speech. 

The teacher should listen to the language of the class at 
all times and should note the mistakes. She should select 
the most glaring of these, and make them the subject of drills. 
Her ingenuity will be taxed to devise new and interesting 
ways of conducting these, but they should not be allowed to 



258 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

lapse on that account. The work should be systematic and 
continuous. 

Then, again, she may have simple repetition of the correct 
form without any so-called drill. By simply correcting over 
and over again the mistake as it occurs, always kindly, always 
patiently, not with the irritated "Don't say this or that," 
but — 

"Can I do this?" 

"Yes, if you say 'May I.'" 

"I ain't got no pencil." 

"You shall have one if you say 'I have no pencil.'" 

"This example is awful hard." 

"It is very — what did you say?" 

There are, after all, not so many errors of speech to which 
we can give our attention in these early years. These few, 
however, we must attack unweariedly, and let the rest go 
until technical grammar steps in to shoulder the responsibility. 
If this work is not left to chance, but is taken up systematically 
and continuously, giving it a recognized place in the day's 
program, there will be marked improvement in the child's 
language. 

In the third year, the drill on correct forms of expression 
may profitably follow a regular course. In the New York Course 
of Study, for example, this year is given to the study of the use 
of "is" and "are," "was" and "were," "has" and "have," 
the use of the parts of "do, see, come, and go"; while such 
exercises are given in sentence construction as will afford prac- 
tice in forming the plurals of noims, including a few common 
irregular forms. The method of teaching really resolves itself 
into the employment of devices which will keep up interest and 
will afford practically unlimited opportunities for the repeated 
use of the correct form. Once more it is to be emphasized that 
there is to be almost no reference to reasons for the correction. 

In a way, however, the teacher may make use of certain 



GRAMMAR — CORRECTION OF ERRORS 259 

principles of concord and of grammatical use which will form 
the basis of later formal study. For example, the use of the 
singular and plural forms of the verbs may easily be explained 
by having the children see that where they are speaking of but 
one thing, they use "is" or "has"; and that where they are 
speaking of more than one, they use "are," "were," or "have." 
But the mode of approach should be made through the constant 
repetition of the correct forms, and the children, by comparison 
of many sentences, and by constant use of the correct forms, 
and by untiring correction by the teacher, should be led 
to formulate for themselves the principle of concord that is 
exemplified by these forms of expression. 

When the plurals of nouns are taken up, the teacher need 
not use the technical word. In some locaHties, however, 
where English is a native rather than a foreign tongue, chil- 
dren may become accustomed to the use of the word "plural," 
understanding that the word means more than one. 

The fourth year may be given up to drill on the part of irregu- 
lar verbs in frequent use, and on the comparative and superla- 
tive forms of adjectives. In general, the teacher must bear in 
mind that until the formal study of technical grammar begins, 
there should be a minimum use of technical terms. When 
a correct form has been taught to the children, reference may 
be made to it when the teacher corrects their oral or written 
compositions. For example, if the child uses a superlative form 
in comparing two objects, the teacher, instead of substituting 
the correct form at once, calls the attention of the children 
to the language lessons in which this particular kind of error 
was treated, and the child should make his own correction. 
It may be said that this is the principle which should domi- 
nate the work. When once a form of" expression has been made 
the basis of regular study in the language lesson, the correc- 
tion of that form should be made by the children with but 
slight suggestion from the teacher. 



26o THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

In the fifth year, the drill on correct forms may extend the 
number of irregular verbs studied, and may include some 
of the more frequently misused prepositions, while in the 
latter half of this year the study of the personal pronoim, 
particularly when it forms a part of a compound subject or pred- 
icate, is taken up. Since the study of grammar in the second 
half of the fifth year includes the distinguishing of the subject 
word, the predicate verb, and the complement of the verb, 
the children may be led to formulate some such principles of 
correction as these: "He told John and I not to take the book." 
We cannot use "I" because John and I make up the comple- 
ment of the active verb. The word to be used in the com- 
plement of an active verb is "me" and not "I." The children 
may in this way give rules of grammar within the limits of the 
knowledge with which they are, up to that particular stage, 
equipped. 

In the sixth year, the drills on correct forms may include 
the use of irregular verbs, of prepositions, and of relative pro- 
nouns. In the second half of the year, and from that point 
to the end of the course, formal grammar may be made 
the more important part of the work. The drill on correct 
forms becomes the application to the speech of the children 
of the regular principles developed in the course of the work 
in grammar. How this application is to be effected, and what 
these principles are, will be shown later. 

Summary. — Teaching in grammar begins with the correction by 
the teacher of errors made by the children. Habits of correct speech 
should be developed through imitation. In this work the psy- 
chology of habit formation should be carefully observed. Where 
possible, technical terms may be introduced in an incidental way. 



CHAPTER XXV 
GRAMMAR (Concluded) 

Formal Study 

In taking up the discussion of the methods to be adopted 
in the teaching of formal EngUsh grammar, we must set forth 
clearly a fundamental difference between the mode of treat- 
ment which we advocate and that set forth in the ordinary- 
course of study. In the usual syllabus the earlier instruction 
in grammar is intended to be to a greater or less extent formal; 
e.g., conducted with a view to developing inductively certain 
principles which are to find their application in the composition 
work of the last years of the course. Such a procedure is 
opposed to the correct method, and is almost certain to lead 
to a separation between accuracy in the use of language and 
a knowledge of those laws which are the generalizations based 
upon correct usage. From the very beginning, the work in 
grammar should grow out of the spoken and written work of 
the pupils, and should find its immediate application in the 
correction of errors to be found in their compositions and in 
their speech. In other words, in this branch of formal Eng- 
lish, just as in the formal study and drill upon correct forms for 
expression, the basis of the work should be the language of the 
children, and its appKcation should be the correction of their 
errors. 

A principle of grammar as such responds to no immediate or 
even remote need in the developing experience of the children. 
But any principle which presents in brief form a rule for the cor- 
rection of errors which the child knows that he continually makes, 



262 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

is a short cut in correction. If the ideal set up by the children 
for themselves because of the model set by the teacher, and 
because of the suggestions continually made as to the value of 
correct English as a sign of culture, is sufficiently potent and 
vital for them, there will be an ever present motive for technical 
study. It is, therefore, to be remembered that in all our work 
the intimate relation should never be lost between the study 
of grammar and the composition work of the class. 

It may seem a formidable thing to say that the study of 
grammar should begin with the fourth year. It is to be noted, 
however, that there is to be no use of technical terms. A 
classification of sentences is called for, but this classification 
is based entirely upon the analysis of the thought. In this 
year the study should be purely inductive; that is to say, the 
classes are to be formed and named after many exaniples have 
been given by the teacher. 

The motive for this study may be the fact that the children, 
in their written work, will frequently give as sentences expres- 
sions which do not make complete sense. For example, there 
will be a long subject, but the predicate will be omitted. Some- 
times, where a child wishes to make a complex statement about 
some idea which he has in mind, the second sentence will begin 
with a predicate or will include nothing but a dependent clause. 
The mode of approach to this study may be, first, the state- 
ment made by the teacher that every sentence, that is to say, 
every part of written composition included between the 
initial letter and the final period, must tell a complete thought. 
There must be something spoken about, and we must tell 
something about it. The separation of this sentence into 
these two parts of logical subject and logical predicate is 
not to be attempted in this grade. 

The teacher may select from the answers made by the chil- 
dren in the course of lessons, answers which she hurriedly jots 
down on paper kept ready for the purpose, or from their written 



GRAMMAR — FORMAL STUDY 263 

compositions, statements which do not express the complete 
thought which she has already set forth as the fundamental 
characteristic of a complete sentence. These may be written 
with heavy crayon on large sheets of oak-tag in advance of the 
lesson, and should at the right time be displayed to the class. 
Pupils will in all probability recognize their own statements. 

The teacher may then call upon the particular pupil to tell 
in full what idea he had in mind when he made the statement 
selected as the subject for study. In the first part of the work, 
the teacher should select only those sentences which come 
under the first class of sentences given for study in this grade; 
that is, sentences which tell what things do. 

In all probabiHty, most of the examples given by the teacher 
will be incomplete answers made by the children in response 
to questions asked in the course of the lessons. The immediate 
application of this work will be the insistence upon complete 
answers to be given by the children to questions in every lesson. 
The drill may consist of a series of subjects, for example, the 
names of subjects or of persons given by the teacher, and the 
task of the children will be to complete these by telling what 
these things or persons do. A second form of drill may con- 
sist of giving a number of words which tell of the actions of 
the things, leaving blank the names of the things or persons 
performing the action. Once more the task of the children is 
to make the complete sentence. 

It is entirely unnecessary that the teacher should feel re- 
stricted to the kind of exercise usually given in the text books 
on English; that is, exercises which contain but a single word 
for the subject and a single word for the predicate. Longer 
ones are just as clear to the children as the single word, al- 
though it must be remembered that the first steps in this work 
should be the simplest. 

Since the application of this work is to be to the answers 
given by the children in the course of the other lessons of the 



264 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

grade, care should be taken by the teacher that in her selec- 
tion of examples she base the work largely upon close correla- 
tion with the other subjects. For example, if there are certain 
topics taken up in nature study for that particular week, and 
if the nature study lesson is one of the development type, the 
study of one specimen for the purpose of reaching a generaliza- 
tion regarding it, it may be well to have the language work 
of that week center about the nature study lesson. If a story 
has been taken up for extended treatment in oral reproduction, 
the sentences for another week may be based upon the subject 
matter of that story. If a new topic has been taken up in 
arithmetic, and the children are likely to be called upon to make 
explanations in connection with it, the sentences at that par- 
ticular time may be grouped aroimd the idea of the arithmetic 
lesson. 

Sentences should be classified into those that tell (i) what 
things do; (2) what is done to things; (3) what the quality of 
things is; and (4) what things are. 

It woidd perhaps seem somewhat more natural to study as 
the second type of sentence the form which tells what things are. 
This might seem to correspond to the type, "What things do." 
Several reasons, however, may be advanced for postponing 
such study to a later period. In the first place, the difference 
between these two tj^es is slight. Hence it will be difficult 
sharply to discriminate between them. In the beginning of 
all analysis, discriminations should be between things as much 
imlike as possible. It requires a larger apperceptive back- 
ground and a greater familiarity with detail to make fine dis- 
tinctions, while discriminations of the coarser sort, on the other 
hand, tend to furnish this largeness of backgroimd and this 
increase in the knowledge of detail. We make one percept 
clearer if we distinguish it sharply from another. The greater 
the intrinsic differences between two classes, the sharper will 
be the discrimination. It is, therefore, advisable to select, 



GRAMMAR — FORMAL STUDY 265 

as the second type studied, one that is as unlike the first as 
possible. 

There is a second reason why the next type of sentence 
studied should not be that which tells what things are. It 
will be seen that because of intrinsic relationship the four 
types actually fall into two groups, each containing two 
types. "What things do" and "What is done to things" 
make a unit; similarly, "What the qualities of things are" and 
"What things are," are related. It is a very easy step from 
the statement of what things do to the statement of what is 
done to things. Yet the second type of sentence will be so 
much unlike the first in form, although related to it in mean- 
ing, that the differences will be great enough to permit imme- 
diate and complete discrimination. Furthermore, the third and 
fourth are similarly related. In the third type we have in 
mind a certain object, and select from its many quaUties one, 
which, for the purposes of the immediate statement, is to be 
considered as characteristic. In other words, we make explicit 
one of the factors differentiating this object from others and 
making it a distinctive thing of its kind. For example, we 
may say, "The Andes Mountains are the highest in the western 
hemisphere." In this statement, from the many things which 
may be said about the Andes Mountains, from the many per- 
ceptional elements with which the name, Andes Mountains, 
is immediately associated in the mind, we may select the one 
which, for our purposes, gives the distinguishing mark of the 
subject. In the fourth type, the mental process, namely that 
of selecting a characteristic quality from the many associated 
elements brought into the margin of consciousness at the men- 
tion of the subject, is the same as that made explicit in the third 
type of sentence. But here the abstraction of a quality re- 
mains implicit, and mentally there is a leap from this quality 
to some other class of which the abstracted quaUty may be 
considered t3^ical. 



266 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

The judgment, or, grammatically speaking, the sentence is 
the declaration of the identity between the subject first pro- 
posed in consciousness, and the class or the object suggested 
by the quality abstracted from the subject and held momen- 
tarily in the focus of consciousness as a factor in the recall of 
this associated object. For example, we may say, "The Andes 
Mountains form the continental ridge of South America." 
Here the abstracted idea is the notion of the height of these 
mountains, and the fact that they constitute a table land. 
This idea, suspended in consciousness, suggests the larger idea 
of continental ridge, and it is only the latter which finds 
expression in the sentence or the judgment. 

This intrinsic relationship between the first and the second 
type, and between the third and the fourth type, is an added 
reason why the grouping should be that suggested in the course 
of study rather than one based upon what, at first sight, seems 
a more natural sequence. 

The relationship between the sentences of the first and of 
the second type suggests the method that should be adopted 
in the study of the second form. The motive given to the 
children should be the desire to secure variety in their expres- 
sion. The general ideal set for them by the teacher is that of 
avoiding monotony. It may be expressed in some such state- 
ment as, "If we were always to Use the same kind of sentence, 
people would become tired of listening to us, or of reading what 
we have written. If we want them to be interested, we must 
use different ways of telling our thoughts to them." Examples 
may be given by reading from the reader or some other book 
within the actual experience or easy comprehension of the 
children, such quotations as will show where sentences in the 
passive form have been used to secure variety. 

The class may be led to note the relief from monotony 
secured by this alternation of form. The next step may then 
be to take numbers of sentences from those already given 



GRAMMAR — FORMAL STUDY 267 

by the children in their study of the first type, and to change 
them into sentences of the second type. The application of 
this work may be to the written compositions of the class. As 
has already been suggested, these compositions may be kept 
in composition books, or, if the themes are written on separate 
sheets of paper, the work of each pupil may be kept in a sepa- 
rate envelope. One period may be devoted to having the chil- 
dren look over their compositions, select sentences which are of 
the first type, and, where they think it would add to the effect, 
change the form. It may be objected that this kind of work 
will result in the production of a correction paper which will 
be anything but neat. There will be interlineations, erasures, 
etc. This is very true. But, after all, the aim is not to keep 
immaculate the written work of the children. At a later time 
it may be advisable to rewrite the compositions of the children 
if corrections have been made, the purpose then being to turn 
out a clean copy. 

The formal drill in the study of this type should include the 
changing of sentences from the active form to the passive form, 
and vice versa. The technical words, active and passive, need 
not be given to the class. With the brighter group of pupils, 
however, there is no harm in giving these terms, and in requiring 
their use. It is just as easy for a class to refer to a sentence of 
the first type as a sentence in the active form and to a sentence 
of the second type as a sentence in the passive form, as it is to 
have the class say that the former tells what things do, and the 
latter, what is done to things. Even if the technical terms, 
however, are given, it is essential, if we are to form the immediate 
association between the thought in the mind of the pupil and 
the sentence in which that form finds expression, to use the more 
descriptive terms in all the early steps of the work. 

In connection with this study, the teaching of important 
plural forms of nouns may be required. This will carry with it 
a review of the exercises on correct forms of expression which 



268 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

were given in the work of the third year. The object here 
should be to focalize the attention of the class empirically upon 
concord of subject and predicate. Where, in the study of the 
sentences of the first type, the drill calls on the children to 
complete the sentence, the first question asked by the teacher 
should be, ''Must the thing that we are talking about be one 
thing or more than one?" A study of the form of the verb 
will show whether a singular or plural subject is called for. 
Similarly, when we have a subject given, the first question 
should be, "What kind of word must we use? One that tells 
what is done by one thing or one that tells what is done by 
more than one thing? What form of the verb must we use? " 
This kind of exercise will give an immediate application of 
the drill on correct forms of expression, and will, moreover, 
afford an opportunity for an intelHgent review of what has 
been taken up in earlier grades. 

Fourth Yeae. — Second Half 

The study of the sentences of the third and fourth types 
should, in a general way, be conducted by a method similar to 
that suggested for the first two forms. Since the general nature 
of the idea expressed in the third type of sentence is different 
from that of the first, the mode of approach will be somewhat 
different. In this type, the essential idea is descriptive. The 
sentence is the expression of a judgment regarding an object 
present to the senses or recalled in imagination. The first work 
may, therefore, be the formation of sentences descriptive of 
objects presented to the class. It would be well to establish 
some sort of correlation between this work and the study of the 
model in description. The teacher should place emphasis 
upon the choice of suitable adjectives. 

A distinguishing mark of good style is the ability to choose 
words which are at once specific and suggestive. On the one 
hand, the adjective should be so aptly chosen as to bring to the 



GRAMMAR— FORMAL STUDY 269 

mind of the reader a definite picture of that phase of the object 
which it is the intention of the writer to convey. On the other 
hand, the adjective should be so chosen that it is, to a certain 
degree, characteristic of the object in connection with which it 
is used, so that the adjective itself will recall the name of the 
object. It will be foimd that the tendency of the children at the 
beginning will be merely to give any kind of descriptive word 
without much regard to its force or suitability. It should be 
the aim of the teacher to develop the feeling that there is but one 
adjective which is the inevitably right one, and to encourage the 
children to reject all suggested words until the exact one has 
been given. In order to make this idea clear to the class, the 
teacher may find it helpful to present good illustrations from 
standard authors. 

At times, it will be found valuable to carry on a lesson or a 
series of lessons analytically. The teacher may prepare for the 
children copies of excellent models, or a passage may be selected 
from a reader or from some other text book for study. The class 
may then be called upon to go through the model or the selection 
for the purpose of picking out those sentences which tell what 
the qualities of things are. In a little while children should be 
able to separate such sentences into the two parts; one, giving 
the name of the object, the other, its quality. The teacher who 
takes up this work will undoubtedly discover that sentences of 
this type usually require the use of a copula. Once more it 
must be emphasized that the technical names are not to be 
given to the class. In fact, it is not desirable that they should 
be used by the teacher. This, however, is no reason why the 
teacher should not effect improvements in method because of 
her knowledge of the larger truths underlying the work of the 
children. The sentence containing a copula is really only the 
amplification of a purely descriptive subjective statement. 
Thus the sentence — "The house is beautifully decorated" — 
really is the expression of a judgment based upon the percept 



270 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

of the beautifully decorated house. It will, therefore, be a 
valuable exercise for the teacher to give to the class merely the 
expression of a number of such perceptional judgments; that is, 
the names of objects with descriptive words telling what that 
object is like, and what its distinguishing or characteristic marks 
are. The work of the children may be to take this statement 
and expand it into regular sentence form. In this way, without 
the use of any technical language and without any attempt to 
have the children go through the steps of parsing, we are building 
up empirically in their minds the notion of the attribute. 

The application of this study to the work of the children will 
be twofold. In the first place, the teacher may call for a more 
careful choice of the adjectives by the children. In the second 
place, it will be noted by reference to the course of study that 
the drill on correct forms of expression includes a study of 
comparatives and superlatives. While the idea of comparison 
need not be taken up technically, the word ''compare" should 
be made familiar to the children. Drill on the right forms of 
the comparative and the superlative, the avoidance of double 
comparatives and double superlatives, and the use of the com- 
parative when but two objects are considered, the superlative 
being reserved for more than two objects: — all these are practi- 
cal applications to the speech and the writing of the children, 
and furnish opportunities for reviewing the study of the third 
type of sentence. 

The entire class may not be a,ble to grasp the rules that the 
comparative always implies an exclusion while the superlative 
involves an inclusion of objects. This concept is diflScult and 
is in most cases beyond the comprehension of the child in the 
fourth year. Such instruction, however, may be given to the 
pupils of the brighter group. It will be foimd that at every 
stage of the work it is advisable to establish a minimum of the 
subject matter to be covered so that the teacher may know just 
how much knowledge should be gained by the children if they 



GRAMMAR — FORMAL STUDY 271 

are to be fitted to take up the work of the next higher grade. 
On the other hand, it is equally advisable to reserve certain 
features of more intensive study so' that the brightest children 
may have an opportunity to exercise their full powers on their 
work. A test should, however, be restricted to the work 
covered by the entire class. 

For the study of the fourth type it is unnecessary to add many 
suggestions to those already given. The teacher should bear 
in mind what are the psychological elements involved in the 
judgment expressed by a sentence of this type. Wherever the 
children are showing a tendency to give a sentence that does 
not carry much thought with it, the teacher should call upon 
the pupils to state what was the quality of the subject which 
caused the pupil to identify that subject with the class in 
which the subject has been placed by the judgment .expressed 
in the sentence. Thus, in "the man is a hero," the notion of 
bravery should be shown to be the common quality. If this 
kind of formal work does nothing more than direct the atten- 
tion of the children to the intimate relation between the 
thought in the mind of the speaker and the form of the sen- 
tence, it will have accomplished its purpose. 

Fifth Year — First Half 

The new work for this grade may be made the analysis of the 
sentences into the logical subject and the logical predicate. In 
the higher grades, where this kind of work is usually taken up, 
most teachers use the term "logical subject and logical predi- 
cate"; and later, when the subject word or the predicate verb 
is selected, they refer to these as the "grammatical subject" and 
the "grammatical predicate." As a matter of fact, the word 
logical means absolutely nothing to the child. It may be 
questioned whether the average teacher knows why the word 
logical should be used. The isolation of one particular word 
from the subject and one particular word from the predicate is 



272 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

a purely technical process made valuable only by the exigencies 
of the study of grammar. For the children that which they are 
thinking about and talking about is the subject and that which 
is said about this thing is the predicate. These words should 
therefore be used. Some teachers may choose to add complete 
and refer to the former as the complete subject and to the latter 
as the complete predicate. There is no objection to such use. 
The word complete carries with it a certain definite idea usually 
grasped by the children. 

But the mere analysis of the sentences into these two parts 
is, after all, only an analytic process. The sentences, it is true, 
may come from the compositions of the children, from their 
speech, and from the subject matter of their reading. This, 
however, is fulfilling only one of the two conditions that we have 
set forth as necessary to all successful work. The second is 
that the principles developed should find immediate and ready 
application to the language expression of the children. Of 
course, the correction of sentence structure such as was taken up 
in the fourth year should be continued. Violations of the law 
of sentence unity should be corrected and the reasons for the 
correction may now be given in somewhat more formal and 
technical language. 

This, however, is not enough. The suggestion is therefore 
made that the teacher take up the topic of securing variety in 
the introduction of sentences by at times throwing the predicate 
or a part of the predicate before the subject. The name 
"phrase" need not be used. After the sentence has been 
given in the direct form and has been broken up into its subject 
and its predicate, the teacher may ask whether it would not 
have been possible to have the sentence begin with some part of 
the predicate. The application of this work to the written com- 
positions of the children may readily be understood. One of the 
most difficult things to secure in the written work of children 
is the breaking away from the direct statement. If this kind 



GRAMMAR — FORMAL STUDY 273 

of work is begun as early as the first half of the fifth year, it is 
possible that at the completion of the course the children will 
have developed a freer and more flexible style. Furthermore, 
it has already been suggested under the heading of "Drill on 
the Correct Forms " that in the first half of the fifth year there 
should be a study of a few of the more frequently misused 
prepositions. From the fact that the children will be com- 
pelled to concentrate upon these words, it will be easier for 
the teacher to have the children select the proper phrase, and 
make it the introducing element in the sentence. 

Fifth Year — Second Half 

We have already set down as one of the fundamental principles 
in the teaching of formal grammar that the progress should be 
from the whole to its parts. That is to say, from the complete 
thought and its expression in the form of a sentence, gradually 
through intermediate forms to the study of the word. In the 
first half of the fifth year we have suggested that the sentence 
should be broken up into its larger units; namely, the subject 
and the predicate. In this half of the year the division is 
somewhat finer. 

The first work may be to break up the predicate into the 
predicate verb and the complement. The first step in this work 
should be drill in naming the predicate verb as such. Num- 
bers of sentences should be given and the class called upon to 
divide each sentence first into subject and predicate, and then 
to underline the word or the words expressing the action. The 
drill on this may be extended over a number of lessons until 
the entire class has become proficient. 

The next step is to provide for that portion of the complete 
predicate which is left after the predicate verb has been isolated. 
A number of sentences may be written on the board or read from 
the text book, and the attention of the class directed to the 
relationship existing between the remaining words of the predi- 



274 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

cate and the predicate verb. Two general classes should be 
established. The first will include those words which in some 
way change the meaning of the predicate verb. These may be 
called the modifiers. All other parts, the class will learn from 
observation and inference, in some way complete the idea ex- 
pressed by the verb. As a result of our analysis up to this 
point we have selected the complete subject and the predicate 
verb, and have placed the remainder of the predicate in one of 
two classes, either modifier or complement. It may be neces- 
sary to carry on this general analysis for several weeks. At all 
events, it must be remembered by the teacher that success at 
every later stage in the teaching of grammar will depend upon 
the accuracy with which this selection is made. 

The third step in the analysis may be the breaking up of the 
complement into two classes: first, that kind of complement 
which tells something more about the subject, and secondly, 
that kind of complement which receives the action expressed 
by the predicate verb. The appropriate names should be 
given to the two kinds of complements, and the first kind 
should at once be related to the third and fourth types of 
sentences studied in the fourth year. 

Application may be made at once to the correct language 
expression of the children. The motive may be furnished by 
giving to the class a sentence such as, "It is me." Then 
after the teacher gives the correct form, and says that it will 
be the aim to. find out why one is right and the other is 
wrong, the children may easily be led to see that where the 
complement means the same as the subject, that word should 
be used which would have been foimd in the subject itself. 
The teacher will see that in this lesson, as with every lesson 
involving the study of case, the first sentences should always 
be those requiring the use of pronoims. It is only with the 
pronoun that the change in the word itself shows the inflection. 

When the fact has been properly impressed upon the children 



GRAMMAR — FORMAL STUDY 275 

that when the complement means the same as the subject the 
word used in the complement should be that word that would 
have been used as the subject, all other forms may be disposed of 
merely by the method of logical exclusion. That is, where the 
complement does not mean the same as the subject we should 
not use that word that would have been used as the subject. 
This will give a sort of reason for the correction of the error. 
"He told you and I what to do." 

It is probable that this work will be completed about the 
middle of the term. The next step may be the further analysis 
of the subject so as to isolate the subject noun. The extension 
of this work to the formation of sentences that have compound 
subjects, together with the study of the concord of the verb 
with a compound subject will follow very easily and will find 
ready application in the correction of errors made by the children. 
Furthermore, the study of the punctuation of words in series, 
which should be taken up in the dictation lessons, will grow 
naturally out of the study of the compound subject or the 
compound predicate. 

Technical names for the various complements need not be 
taught in this grade. The children have not yet become ac- 
quainted with the term noun, adjective, pronoun, and, therefore, 
we cannot speak of predicate adjectives, predicate nouns, 
predicate pronouns, and the Hke. It may be found advisable 
to use the terms, attribute and object, respectively, to denote 
the two kinds of complements taken up in this work. All the 
sentences should be of the conventional type; that is, they 
should not involve any of those unusual forms, the study of 
which calls for concentration and technical knowledge beyond 
the powers of the children. 

Sixth Year — First Half 

In the work of this grade practically the most important part 
may be made the development of the definitions of the parts 



276 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

of speech. The general principle may be briefly stated. All 
development in grammar should be the result of an inductive 
process based upon many examples given by the teacher and 
drawn from the regular written or spoken language of the class. 
All analysis should be taken up as deductive work. In order to 
illustrate what is meant by the inductive development of the 
definition of a part of speech, we shall use a lesson on the adverb 
given by Bagley in his "Educative Process" imder the topic of 
the inductive development lesson. We shall, to a large extent, 
use his language, adapting only slightly here and there. In 
his lesson, Bagley has followed faithfully the five formal steps of 
the regular Herbartian lesson. 

The preparation for the series of lessons, the object of which 
is the development of the definition of the adverb, should consist 
of the definitions of other parts of speech already studied with 
special emphasis upon the adjective and the verb. This natu- 
rally makes it a matter of great importance to select the right 
order in the development of our parts of speech. The simpler 
ones, such as the noun, the pronoun, and the verb, which repre- 
sent substantive states of consciousness, should, of course, be 
taken up first and should grow out of the actual objects or acts 
of which they are the language symbols. The first of the 
modifying parts of speech to be studied should be the adjective, 
and the preparation here should be the reference to the third 
type of sentence, the condensation of this sentence into a mere 
description of the object as a percept or an image. From this 
point, the presentation and the formulation of the definition 
will be simple. 

With the adverb, then, we should first review what has already 
been taught about the adjective. There should be a recall of 
the analysis of the complete predicate such as was taken up in 
the second half of the fifth year. The teacher should once more 
review the difference between the complement and the modifier. 
As results of this review certain ideas will have been made clear 



GRAMMAR — FORMAL STUDY 277 

to the children. First, the notion of the adjective; secondly, 
the isolation of the verb; and thirdly, the classification of certain 
parts of the predicate as being not complement but modifier. 

The dominant method of this step as with all inductive 
development lessons is that of questions and answers. The 
teacher should use well directed questions which will suggest 
rather than tell. For the development of the adverb the 
questions will probably be rather formal. For example, the 
teacher will point out the verb to the class and will then ask, 
"What does this word do?" "What part of speech is it?" 
"Define a verb." She should then point out an adjective. 
''What does this word do?" "What part of speech is it?" 
"Define an adjective." "What do you mean by the word 
modifier?'^ "What part of the predicate is left after we pick 
out the predicate verb?" "What does this part do?" The 
class will say that the remaining part of the predicate modifies 
or changes the meaning of the predicate verb, and will make 
the statement, "The rest of the predicate comes under the 
class of modifiers." Up to this point the preparation should 
have brought out the facts: (i) that the adjective is one form 
of modifier and that it makes clearer the meaning of the noun 
or pronoun; (2) that we have a word or a number of words 
which make clearer the meaning of the predicate verb; (3) that 
we know these words to be modifiers of some kind but that we 
do not know what name to give to these modifiers. 

The statement of the aim will be in some such form as, "The 
adjective makes clearer the meaning of the noun. What kind 
of word makes clear the meaning of the verb?" 

Then comes the presentation. The actual facts should be 
brought out by a study of sentences containing adverbs. They 
may be written on the blackboard with blank spaces which the 
children are asked to fill in with words that make the meaning 
of the verb clearer, or the teacher may write complete sentences 
containing adverbs. The pupils, having disposed of the other 



278 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

words, may be led to say that the adverb does for the verb what 
the adjective does for the noun. 

In the third step, that of comparison and abstraction, the 
facts revealed in the second step should be compared with one 
another. In the presentation, attention has been called to a 
new class of words. The teacher asks, "What do all the words 
that we have just pointed out do?" "Are they like any other 
class of words that we have studied?" "How?" "In what 
respect do they differ from adjectives?" "Look at them 
again." "In what respect does the first one help the verb?" 
"The second?" and so on, care having been taken that the ex- 
amples supplied illustrate place, time, and manner of action, 
interrogation, and cause. 

In the fourth step the generalization will take the form of a 
definition. "Any word used to modify the verb by answering 
the question how, when, where, etc., is called an adverb." The 
definition should be given in the inductive form. Frequently 
one meets with a definition like, "A noun is a word used as a 
name." In the mental process preceding the actual definition, 
the first step is the recognition of the function of the word in 
the sentence. The second step is a comparison of that function 
with the functions of different parts of speech already studied. 
The third step is the identification of the function of the particu- 
lar word with the function of some part of speech, and the last 
statement is the judgment that this word is a noun, a verb, an 
adjective, etc. It is, therefore, more consistent to have the 
children first give expression to what is the first step in their 
mental process. "This word is a word used as " — etc, " There- 
fore, this word is a noun, an adjective," etc. If this kind of 
definition is carried on consistently throughout the course, it 
will be found that the number of ridiculous errors made by 
children in parsing will decrease. 

In the fifth step of the inductive lesson, the application will 
naturally concern itself with the identification of adverbs in 



GRAMMAR — FORMAL STUDY 279 

given sentences. This in turn will prepare the pupil for a suc- 
ceeding lesson on the extension of the definition to cover the 
modification of adjectives and of adverbs. 

What has been said here regarding the form of definition to 
be used applies with equal force to all steps in the process of 
analysis and parsing. When the children classify a sentence, 
the statement should not be, "That the sentence is declarative 
because," etc., but it should be, "This sentence expresses so 
and so and therefore it is a declarative sentence." One of the 
ends that will be secured by this kind of statement will be that 
the first object of attention for the children will be the idea 
expressed in the sentence or by the- word, and the early rec- 
ognition of the fact that all parsing grows out of the idea 
expressed through the functioning of the word. 

Reference to an ordinary text-book of grammar will help the 
teacher to find application of the study of the parts of speech 
to the correction of errors in the language of the children. It 
is, therefore, easy to make the work practical. For example, 
when the adverb is studied, errors should be taken up which 
involve the use of the adverb instead of the adjective and of 
the adjective instead of the adverb. A still further application 
could be made by calling upon the children to correct similar 
errors in their written compositions. 

Sixth Year — Second Half 

The study of phrases may be begun in this grade, and should 
be approached from the study of the compositions of the class. 
As has been remarked in another connection, probably the most 
frequent error to be met with in the composition of the ele- 
mentary school child is the almost unbroken monotony in the 
opening of the sentences. It is a rare thing to find a child who 
in spontaneous work makes frequent use of the phrase for the 
purpose of securing variety in the introduction. The motive 
presented to the children should be the attempt so to place the 



28o THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

phrase as to keep up the interest of the reader and to prevent 
fatigue. The teacher should refer to the fact that there are 
different sorts of elements of a sentence which may be used for 
the purpose of getting this variety. She should first make use 
of the knowledge already gained by the children regarding 
adverbs. It will frequently be found that the adverb when 
itself emphatic may be placed at the beginning of a sentence to 
heighten the effect. When the idea of transposition for the 
purpose of securing emphasis or variety has been weU grasped 
by the class, the teacher may then suggest that it is time to take 
up the study of another useful element in this kind of work. 
This gives the motive for the study of the phrase. 

Naturally, the first study should be from sentences in which 
it is easy to pick out the sought-for group of words, and com- 
paratively easy to classify the phrase according to its function: 
that is, by finding out what part of speech the phrase modifies 
or what function it performs in the sentence. It will be found 
advisable to take up the study of the phrase and to complete 
the classification before the use of the phrase as a device to secure 
variety is taken up with the class. This positive value of the 
study of the phrase, however, should not cause the teacher to lose 
sight of the corrective value. That is, in the syntax work the 
class should study some of the forms where ambiguity or humor- 
ous twists of thought are effected by the misplaced phrase. A 
valuable exercise is to give a sentence containing a large num- 
ber of phrases all thrown together in hap-hazard fashion, and to 
call upon the children to rewrite the sentence, arranging the 
phrases properly. It would be well to use this for seat work and 
to select for the exercise sentences from some text-book in the 
hands of the children. The test of the children's work would 
then be to compare the sentence or the paragraph as finally 
constructed by them with that part of the text to the approxi- 
mation of which they should in some degree have succeeded. 

In the study of the classes of the parts of speech it is only 



GRAMMAR — FORMAL STUDY 281 

occasionally that one can find an immediate application. For 
example, in the study of the two classes of nouns, the proper 
noim of course will give to the children a reason for many of the 
rules of capitalization which they have studied. While there is 
no immediate value to the children in the classification of pro- 
nouns, this part of the work may be made practical by taking up 
certain of the rules of concord and of syntax. Since inflection is 
to be studied, and inflection involves the study of person, num- 
ber, and case particularly, it will be a simple matter for the 
teacher to find in the speech and the written work of the children 
sufficient examples of errors in the use of the proper case and the 
like, to furnish a motive for study. The approach should always 
be through the study of the pronoun, and particularly of those 
pronouns the form of which readily shows by its change that 
different cases or numbers have been used. For the most part, 
these errors, it will be found, have been taken up in the earlier 
grades under the head of Drill in Common Errors. It is, how- 
ever, in this grade for the first time that the children are led to 
state the principle which underlies the correction. If the drill 
in correct expression has been steady and intelligent, the habit 
of using the correct form should now be fixed. The method we 
are employing is merely an illustration of the general progress 
of all habit formation; namely, that the act is performed as a 
result of superimposed authority, that the act becomes auto- 
matic through repetition, and that, finally, the act is rationalized 
and made the application of a broad principle. 

Finally it may be suggested that the study of the con- 
junctions should be restricted to conjunctions as connecting 
words and phrases. 

All the sentences through the sixth year should be simple. 

Seventh Year — First Hale 

The extension of the study of grammar in the first half of the 
seventh year is one that applies merely to the amount of ground 



282 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

covered, not to the kind of work done. The clause, which may 
here be taken up, should be approached with the same motive 
that was supplied in the study of the phrase. By far the most 
important part of this grade work, however, is the exercise in 
the contraction of sentences. The material for the first exercises 
should be supplied by the teacher, but it will be found valuable 
after a certain amount of drill has been given to the class to have 
the pupils apply to their own compositions what they have 
learned regarding the modes of contraction. In this grade and 
in those which succeed it the amount of application which it 
will be possible for the children to make is so great that it 
may be found advisable to have pupils retain in their posses- 
sion the envelopes holding the compositions of the preceding 
term. These will be valuable not only in furnishing a basis 
for comparison but also in giving the children a standard 
whereby to measure their own progress. 

The study of the active and passive voices of the transitive 
verb may be referred to the study of the first two types of sen- 
tence taken up in the first half of the fourth year. 

Seventh Year — Second Half 

A general review may be given in this grade, dominated 
by the idea of making the children famihar with the purely 
formal side of grammar. Analysis and parsing as such, together 
with the study of declensions, conjugations, and the like, should 
take up the work of the entire term. It must be remembered 
of course that at no time should the application step be lost 
sight of. Children should never be allowed to feel that gram- 
mar exists as a subject entirely apart from their regular 
speech. On the other hand, if we are to give the child a 
foundation which will be of value to him in his study of 
another language, such as German or Latm or Spanish, which 
may be taken up in the last year of the course, we must make 
him thoroughly familiar with the terms that it will be nee- 



GRAMMAR — FORMAL STUDY 283 

essary for him to use when he comes to study the grammar of 

that language. 

Eighth Year 

In the eighth year a further systematic review of the subject 
may be provided, this time, however, according to topics, and 
also for the teaching of the use of the grammar as a book of 
reference. The teacher should present an analysis of the sounds 
of the English language with some treatment of how the organs 
of the mouth should be placed for correct utterance. There 
should be a rapid review of the most common rules of spelling. 
Where children make mistakes in their spelling, mistakes, that 
is, which come under the few rules our language can boast of, 
the teacher may call upon the child to refer to a text-book. 
Rules for the formation of the plural and of the feminine, to- 
gether with the study of etymology, may be studied. Children 
who make errors coming under these heads may be shown how 
to get at the appropriate place in the grammar text-book where 
the correct form or the rule may be found. It will be necessary 
to have a class study the principal parts of many of the irregular 
verbs directly from the text-book. The review may include 
all the important rules of syntax based on the study of formal 
grammar. 

Throughout this year, the teacher's correction of compositions 
should consist altogether of the mere indication in the margin of 
the principle that has been violated. The child should look up 
the principle in the text and should not only make the required 
correction but may also write the number of the section or the 
page of the text-book in which will be found the statement of 
the law which was violated. In order to make this correction 
work effective, it will be found in the first half of the eighth 
year that one point in particular may be emphasized each week 
in the correction of the compositions, with a view to having a 
recapitulation of the most important topics by the end of the 
term. In the last half of the eighth year, the children should 



284 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

be ready to detect errors in any part of their work without much 
guidance from the teacher. A suggested mode of review for 
this study in the first half of the eighth year is here given. 

First week — The correction work should be centered upon the 
sequence of topics in the paragraphs. This will call for careful 
study of the outline. It may be said that this is a study not of 
grammar but of style. It is true that if the children made any 
errors in this particular it would be difficult, if even possible, to 
select any riile in the grammar text-book which has been violated 
by the faulty arrangement of the topics. On the other hand, 
however, what we gain is a growing consciousness on the part of 
the children that the study of grammar and of the corrections 
based upon grammar always commences with the largest mass 
of thought. They come to feel that the idea always is to present 
to a reader, with a minimum of strain and with absolute accu- 
racy, the thoughts that are in the mind of the writer. 

The child should criticize his work from three points of view. 
In arranging an outline or in testing the value of the develop- 
ment of a composition, the first thing is to be sure you know 
what you want the composition to end with. It is the final 
impression that is left in the mind of the reader that determines 
what effect the entire composition is to have upon him. Every 
composition should be written because the writer has a distinct 
message to give. Unless that message can be embodied in brief 
and telling form, it may as well never be uttered. Therefore, 
the first direction of the attention should be the essence of the 
composition as it is to be expressed in the concluding paragraph. 
The next question to ask is, "What is a good way of opening 
this composition? " If we wish to have our thoughts reach the 
field of their real influence, we must be sure to gain the atten- 
tion of the reader or listener. It is, therefore, a matter of great 
importance to select the correct method of opening the com- 
position. The third question that should be asked is, "Does 
the composition proceed in a natural way from the opening to 



GRAMMAR — FORMAL STUDY 285 

the conclusion? " If we are sure we have the correct introduc- 
tion, and even though we feel confident that our final idea is 
properly expressed, we must be sure that the reader is carried 
on in so easy and logical a fashion that his attention never 
wanders. 

Second week — The second large topic for correction should 
be the study of the unity of the paragraph. The notion of the 
topic sentence should be carefully reviewed. In this grade it 
may be well to show to a class that it is not necessary to have 
the very first sentence give the topic of the paragraph. Usually 
one of the first three sentences should give this, and what the 
children have already learned as to the right use of conjunctions 
will help them make their transitional sentences more effective. 

Third week — The third topic is the study of the unity of the 
sentence. The important point to be drilled upon is the fact 
that a sentence should treat of one idea, should tell all that the 
writer has to say about that idea, and should not tell anything 
more. This may include an incidental review of subject and 
predicate. 

Fourth week — The study, which has proceeded thus far 
from the composition as a whole through the paragraph to the 
sentence, should now proceed to clauses. In a general way the 
errors will be of two kinds. The fourth topic takes up the first 
of these kinds; namely, errors in position. Four principles 
may be developed with a class and may be further enforced by 
reference to the text-book. First, the principle of clause refer- 
ence; namely, that there should never be any doubt as to what 
a clause relates to. Secondly, it is possible to keep clause 
reference clear without putting a clause immediately after 
the word modified. This is particularly true of the adverbial 
clause, though it is less true of the adjective clause. This 
principle will at once lead to the third; namely, that a clause 
may be placed first for the purpose of getting variety in the 
introduction of sentences, and secondly for the purpose of 



286 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

maintaining interest until the end of the sentence is reached. 
Fourth, when a clause is not of great importance it may be put 
in a parenthetical construction. The examples that are given 
of this kind of construction should be carefully selected by the 
teacher since it is the use of the parenthetical construction with 
too great freedom that is the cause of most obscurities in the 
compositions of the children in the secondary schools. 

Fifth week — The topic is the second which grows out of 
the study of the clause. It was said that the study of the 
position of the clause is the first of the two topics. The second 
is the distinction between who and which and that. It is prob- 
ably too much to ask a class fully to grasp the idea of the 
restrictive and the additive pronoun. It is possible, however, 
to have any average class understand the fmidamental idea. 
Whenever the pronoun who or which is used, ask yourself 
whether you can use and he or and that instead of who and, 
and it, or and that instead of which. If you cannot use this 
equivalent expression, then use the word that. The pronoun 
that is used whenever you want to distinguish the object you 
are speaking of from something else. The pronoun which is 
used when you wish to give some additional information about 
the word modified by the " which" clause. In the sentence, "I 
saw the boy who was sitting at the desk," there is but one 
boy thought of. "I saw him," and ''he was sitting at the 
desk." When I say, "I saw the boy that was sitting at the 
desk," I mean that there may have been other boys whom I 
did not see. I am speaking only of the one "that was sitting 
at the desk." In this connection, also, there shoidd be a 
review of the use of the relative pronoun in the objective 
case, even in the instances where it is separated from its 
governing word. 

Sixth week — The topic in a way grows out of the study of 
the clause although it refers more definitely to the study of 
one specific part of speech. It takes up all specific conjunctions. 



GRAMMAR — FORMAL STUDY 287 

It will be found that children make too constant use of what we 
may call the "stock conjunctions." It is not that these more 
specific words are not in the vocabulary of the children. It is 
one thing, however, for a word to be imderstood when it crosses 
one's mental vision and it is quite another to have an active 
command of the use of that word. It is for the purpose of 
gaining this second kind of control that this topic is introduced. 
Pupils should be led to use however, nevertheless, still, and other 
conjimctions which denote finer shades of distinction. 

Seventh week — The subject is the study of phrase reference. 
The method followed is to a large extent that which was taken 
up under the subject of clause reference. 

Eighth week — The work bears the same relation to the 
seventh that the sixth does to the fifth. It includes the correct 
use of prepositions. It will be found, however, that the text- 
book will give examples not alone of prepositions, the correct 
use of which is a matter of judgment, but also of those which 
are demanded by conventional usage. For instance, the use of 
between when we are speaking of but two, and of among when 
we speak of more than two, and the larger principle which 
calls for such a preposition after a derivative which contains 
a prepositional prefix as is implied in the prefix used in the 
formation of the word. For example, we say compare with. 
When we say compare to we use the unexpected preposition 
because we wish to give an entirely different color to our mean- 
ing. We say "sympathy with'^ and the other expression, "sym- 
pathy /or," which, at first declared incorrect, has now come to 
have the stamp of approval from some of our best writers, 
and which has gradually grown to carry with it the idea of 
pitying condescension rather than mere fellow feeling, which is 
implied in the expression "sympathy with." A study of the 
chapter on etymology in any good text-book will show that the 
preposition which comes after a verb or a noun is in most cases 
that implied in the prefix used in that verb or noun. 



288 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

Ninth week — The concord of the verb and the subject should 
be studied. This wUl call for a review of the rules to be found 
in any book on the number of the verb when the subject is 
singular, when it is plural, when we have several subjects 
connected by and, or singular subjects connected by or, when 
we have collective nouns which at times convey the idea of 
singularity and at other times the idea of plurality, and so on. 
In addition there should be careful study of the construction 
where the subject is singular and is followed by a phrase, the 
principal word of which is plural and immediately precedes 
the predicate. The tendency in aU such constructions is to 
use the plural form of the verb, the mind being more influ- 
enced by the close proximity of the principal word of the 
prepositional phrase than by the actual relationship between 
the true subject and its predicate. Thus a composition may 
contain such an expression as "One of us are going to," etc. 
This particular form should be studied carefully and the reason 
for the correction should be discovered by the pupil after refer- 
ence to the text-book. 

Tenth week — This should be given up to a study of the con- 
cord of pronoun and antecedent. Most of the material for this 
study can be got from the study of the text. 

Eleventh week — The topic may be the study of the "hanging 
•participle" as we may call it; that is to say, the error which is 
involved in a sentence of the type, "Entering the room, a beauti- 
ful statue of Jupiter was seen." While it is possible to find the 
correction of this error in the ordinary text-book, it may be well 
to give the class this rule : When using the construction which we 
shall call the ^^ hanging participle'' construction, make sure that the 
subject of the main verb is the name of the person or animal doing 
the action implied by the participle. 

Twelfth week — We may take up the study of an adjective 
and the adverb. Here practically all the work can be given 
directly from the grammar text-book. 



GRAMMAR — FORMAL STUDY 289 

The next three topics deal with the verb, the thirteenth 
having reference to the correct use of the past and the perfect 
tense, the fourteenth to tense-sequence, and the fifteenth to the 
right use of shall and will. Here, as with the study of the ad- 
jective and the adverb, the principles may be learned by the 
children through independent reference to the text-book. 

The last four topics have reference purely to form, and while 
they constitute an important part of the correct expression of 
thought, they are not usually included under the study of 
grammar. Any good grammar, however, contains the rules for 
the correct use of these forms and the pupil should learn how 
to find in the text-book rules which will set him right whenever 
he is in doubt. In the sixteenth week the class may study the 
period, the interrogation point, the exclamation mark, the semi- 
colon, the colon, the dash. In the seventeenth, the proper use 
of quotation marks. In the eighteenth, the study of the semi- 
colon as distinguished from the comma; and in the nineteenth, 
the study of the comma to separate words in series. 

This suggested review of the grammar from the standpoint of 
the errors that may be made by children in their compositions 
and for the purpose of training the children to an intelligent use 
of the text-book, has been a consistent development from the 
study of these errors growing out of the conception of the 
composition as a whole through the study of the paragraph, 
of the sentence, of the clause, of the phrase, of concords, and of 
individual words to those purely formal elements which are a 
feature only of written work. 

Summary. — The work in grammar should grow out of the spoken 
and written work of the pupils, and should find its immediate appli- 
cation in the correction of errors to be found in their compositions 
and in their speech. A principle in grammar is a short cut in cor- 
rection. The motive constantly appealed to should be the desire of 
the children to improve their earlier composition work and to ration- 
ahze the corrections suggested by the teacher. All approach to 



290 THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH 

study of the elements of a sentence should be from the side of the 
function of the word or words. The thinking done by the children 
in developing a principle in grammar is as important as the memoriz- 
ing of the principle itself. Hence, the method of development should 
always be inductive. In addition to reviews based upon different 
aspects of the subject, aU the topics may be gone over once more in 
connection with a graded course in the correction of compositions. 
A suggested course, logically graded, follows: 

1. Sequence of topics in the composition. 

2. Paragraph unity. 

3. Sentence imity. 

4. Position of clauses. 

5. Restrictive and additive clauses. 

6. Conjunctions. 

7. Phrase reference. 

8. The use of prepositions. 

9. Concord of verb and subject. 

10. Concord of pronoim and antecedent. 

11. The hanging participle. 

12. The adjective and the adverb. 

13. Tense. 

14. Tense sequence. 

15. Shall and will. 

16. Punctuation as between clauses and sentences. 

17. Quotation marks. 

18. The semicolon as distinguished from the comma. 

19. The comma. 

The last four topics which are concerned mainly with form should 
be taken up in connection with the grammatical relations which they 
are intended to indicate to the eye. 



INDEX BY GRADES 



The aim of this index is to enable a teacher of any grade to refer easily to 
those sections of the book which will help her in her class work. 



First Year — First Half 

Reading by Pupils 

Underlying principles, 7 

Content of, 7 et seq. 

Grouping in, 10 

Ciunulative repetition, 10, 11 
Phonics 

Underlying principles, 13 

Diacritical marks, 13, 14 

Methods, 15-29 
Reading to Class 

Aims, 49 

Selection of story, 49, 5° 

Method, 50-52 
Story Telling 

Aims, 93 ' 

Selection of stories, 93, 94, 97 

Method, 95, 96, 99 
Memory Gems 

. Underlying principles, 108, 109 

Method, 113 

First Year — Second Half 

Reading by Pupils 

Underlying principles, 7 

Content of, 7 et seq. 

Grouping in, 10 

Cmnulative repetition, 10, 11 
Phonics 

Underlying principles, 13 

Diacritical marks, 13, 14 

Methods, 15-29 
Reading to Class 

Aims, 49 

Selection of story, 49, 50 

Method, 50-52 



Story Telung 

Aims, 93 

Selection of stories, 93, 94, 97 

Method, 95, 96, 99 
Memory Gems 

Underlying principles, 108, 109 

Method, 113 
Correction of Errors 

General principles, 253-255 

Methods, 255-258 

Second Year — First Half 

Phonics 

Underlying principles, 13 

Diacritical marks, 13, 14 

Methods, 15-29 
Reading by the Class 
Standards, 41, 42 

Aims, 43 

Methods, 44-48 
Reading to Class 

Aims, 49 

Selection of story, 49, 50 

Method, 50-52 
Story Telling 

Aims, 93 

Selection of story, 93j Q4. q8 

Method, 95, 96, 99 
Memory Gems 

Underlying principles, 108, 109 

Method, 113 
Spelling 

Underlying principles, 119 

Selection of words, 119, 120 

Method, 120-130 
Correction of Errors 

General principles, 253-255 

Method, 255-258 



292 



INDEX BY GRADES 



Second Year — Second Half 

Phonics 

Underlying principles, 13 

Diacritical marks, 13, 14 

Methods, 15-29 
Reading by Class 

Standards, 41, 42 

Aims, 43 

Methods, 44-48 
Reading to Class 

Aims, 49 

Selection of story, 49, 50 

Method, 50-52 
Story Telling 

Aims, 93 

Selection of story, 93, 94, 98 

Method, 95, 96, 99 
Memory Gems 

Underlying principles, 108, 109 

Method, 113 
Spelling 

Underlying principles, 119 

Selection of words, 119, 120 

Method, 120-130 
Correction of Errors 

General principles, 253-255 

Third Year — First Half 

Phonics 

Underlying principles, 13 

Diacritical marks, 13, 14 

Methods, 15-29 
Reading by Class 

Standards, 41,42 

Aims, 43 

Methods, 44-48 
Reading to Class 

Aims, 49 

Selection of story, 49, 50 

Method, 50-52 
Story Telling 

Aims, 93 

Selection of story, 93, 94, 98 

Method, 95, 96 
Memory Gems 

Underlying principles, 108, 109, 
III, 113 

Aims, no, in 



Spelung 

Underlying principles, 119 

Selection of words, 119, 120 

Method, 120-130 
Dictation 

Underlying principles, 131, 132 

Principle of selection, 133 

Method, 133-140 
Composition 

Underlying principles, 141-147 

Model letters, 173 
Correction of Errors 

General principles, 253-255 

Methods, 255-259 

Third Year — Second Half 

Phonics 

Underlying principles, 13 

Diacritical marks, 13, 14 

Methods, 15-29 
Reading by Class 

Standards, 41, 42 

Aims, 43 

Methods, 44-48 
Reading to Class 

Aims, 49 

Selection of story, 49, 50 

Method, 50-52 
Story Telling 

Aims, 93 

Selection of story, 93, 94 

Method, 95, 96 
Memory Gems 

Underlying principles, 108, 109, 
111-113 

Aims, no, in 
Spelling 

Underlying principles, 119 

Selection of words, 119, 120 

Method, 120-130 
Dictation 

Underlying principles, 131, 132 

Principle of selection, 133 

Method, 133-140 
Composition 

Underlying principles, 141-147 

Model letters, 174 
Correction of Errors 

General principles, 253-255 

Methods, 255-259 



INDEX BY GRADES 



293 



Fourth Year — First Half 

Overcoming Defects in Speech 

Underlying principles, 30 

Aims, 31, 32 

Methods, 32-40 
Reading by Class 

Standards, 41, 42 

Teaching of technique, 42, 43 

Aims, 43 

Methods, 44-48 
Reading to Class 

Aims, 49 

Selection of story, 49, 50 

Method, 50-52 
Story Telung 

Aims, 93 

Selection of story, 93, 94, 98 

Method, 95, 96, 99-107 
Memory Gems 

Underlying principles, 108, 109, 
III, 113 

Aims, no, in 
Spelling 

Underlying principles, 119 

Selection of words, 119, 120 

Method, 120-130 
Dictation 

Underlying principles, 131, 132 

Principle of selection, 133 

Method, 133-140 
Composition 

Underlying principles, 141-147 
Selection of Models 

Letters, 149 

Description, 151 

Narration, 153 

Exposition, 155 

Study of Models, 157, 158, 160 
Letter Writing 

General principles, 163-166 

Subjects, 166, 167 

Method, 168-173, 17s, 176 

Model letters, 177, 178 

Notes, 194 
Correction, 195, 196 
Narration 

General principles, 198 
General method, 199-203 
Models, 203 204 
Notes, 208 



Description 

Models, 211 

Notes, 215-217 
Exposition 

Models, 222 

Notes, 225 

Correction, 227-235 

General suggestions, 236-241 
Grammar 

General principles, 242-252 
Correction of errors 

General principles, 253-255, 261, 
262 

Selection, 259 

Formal study, 262-268 

Fourth Year — Second Half 

Overcoming Defects in Speech 

Underlying principles, 31 

Aims, 21, 32 

Methods, 32-40 
Reading by Class 

Standards, 41, 42 

Teaching of technique, 42, 43 

Aims, 43 

Methods, 44-48 
Reading to Class 

Aims, 49 

Selection of story, 49, 50 

Method, 50-52 
Story Telling 

Aims, 93 

Selection of story, 93, 94, 98 

Method, 95, 96, 99, 107 
Memory Gems 

Underlying principles, 108, 109, 
111-113 

Aims, no, in 
Spelling 

Underlying principles, 119 

Selection of words, 119, 120 

Method, 120-130 
Dictation 

Underlying principles, 131, 132 

Principle of selection, 133 

Method, 133-140 
Composition 

Underlying principles, 144-147 
Selection of models 

Letters, 149 



294 



INDEX BY GRADES 



Composition 

Selection of models 

Description, 151 

Narration, 154 

Exposition, 155 

Study of models, 157, 158, 160 
Letter Writing 

General principles, 163-166 

Subjects, 1 65, 167 

Method, 168-173, 17s, 176 

Model letters, 178, 179 

Notes, 194 

Correction, 195, 196 
Narration 

General principles, 198 

General Method, 199-203 

Models, 204 

Notes, 208 
Description 

Models, 212 

Notes, 217-219 
Exposition 

Models, 222 

Notes, 225, 226 

Correction, 227-235 

General suggestions, 236-241 
Grammar 

General principles, 242-252, 261, 
262 
Correction of Errors 

General principles, 253-255 

Selection, 259 

Formal study, 268-271 

Fifth Year — First Half 

Overcoming Defects in Speech 

Underlying principles, 30 

Aims, 31, 32 

Methods, 32-40 
Reading by Class 

Standards, 41, 42 

Teaching of technique, 42, 43 
Aims, 43 

Methods, 44-48 
Reading to Class 

Aims, 49 

Selection of story, 49, 50 

Method, 50-52 
Story Telling 

Aims, 93 



Selection of story, 93, 94, 98 

Method, 95, 96, 99-107 
Memory Gems 

Underlying principles, 108, 109, 
III, 113 

Aims, no, in 

"The Village Blacksmith," 113-116 
Spelling 

Underlying principles, 119 

Selection of words, 119, 120 

Method, 120-130 
Dictation 

Underlying principles, 131, 132 

Principles of selection, 133 

Method, 133-140 
Composition 

Underlying principles, 141-147 
Selection of models 

Letters, 149 

Description, 152 

Narration, 154 

Exposition, 155 

Study of models, 158, 159 
Letter Writing 

General principles, 163-166 

Subjects, 166, 167 

Method, 168-173, 175, 176 

Model letters, 180-182 

Notes, 194 

Correction, 185, 196 
Narration 

General principles, 198 

General method, 199-203 

Models, 204, 205 

Notes, 208, 209 
Description 

Models, 212, 213 

Notes, 219, 220 

Correction, 227-235 

General suggestions, 236-241 
Grammar 

General principles, 242-252 
Correction of Errors 

General principles, 253-255 

Selection, 260 

Formal study, 271-273 

Fifth Year — Second Half 

Overcoming Defects in Speech 
Underlying principles, 30 



INDEX BY GRADES 



295 



Aims, 31, 32 

Methods, 32-40 
READING BY Class 

Standards, 41, 42 

Teaching of technique, 42, 43 

Aims, 43 

Methods, 44-48 
Reading to Class 

Aims, 49 

Selection of story, 49, 50 

Method, 50-52 
Story Telling 

Aims, 93 

Selection of story, 93, 94, 98 

Method, 95, 96, 99-107 
Memory Gems 

Underlying principles, 108, 109, 
111-113 

Aims, no. III 

"The Village Blacksmith," 113- 
116 
Spelling 

Underlying principles, 119 

Selection of words, 119, 120 

Method, 120-130 
Dictation 

Underlying principles, 131, 132 

Principle of selection, 133 

Method, 133-140 
Composition 

Underlying principles, 141-147 
Selection of Models 

Letters, 150 

Description, 152 

Narration, 154 

Exposition, 155 

Study of models, 158, 159, 160 
Letter Writing 

General principles, 163-166 

Subjects, 166, 167 

Method, 168-173, 175, 176 

Model letters, 182-184 

Notes, 194 

Correction, 195, 196 
Narration 

General principles, 198 

General method, 199-203 

Models, 205, 206 

Notes, 209 
Description 

Models, 213 



Notes, 220 
Exposition 

Models, 223 

Notes, 226 

Correction, 227-235 

General suggestions, 236-241 
Grammar 

General principles, 242-252 
Correction of Errors 

General principles, 253-255 

Selection, 260 

Formal study, 273-275 

Sixth Year — First Half 

Overcoming Defects in Speech 

Underlying principles, 30 

Aims, 31, 32 

Methods, 32-40 
Reading by Class 

Standards, 41, 42 

Teaching of technique, 42, 43 

Aims, 43 

Methods, 44-48 
Reading to Class 

Aims, 49 

Selection of story, 49, 50 

Method, 50-52 
Story Telling 

Aims, 93 

Selection of story, 93, 94, 98 

Method, 95, 96, 99-107 
Memory Gems 

Underlying principles, 108, 109, 
III, 113 

Aims, no, III 

"The Village Blacksmith," 113- 
116 

"Gettysburg Address," 116, 117 
Spelling 

Underlying principles, 119 

Selection of words, 119, 120 

Method, 120-130 
Dictation 

Underlying principles, 131, 132 

Principle of selection, 133 

Method, 133-140 
Composition 

Underlying principles, 141-147 
Selection of Models 

Letters, 150 



296 



INDEX BY GRADES 



Composition 

Selection of Models 

Description, 152 

Narration, 154 

Exposition, 155 

Study of models, 158, 160, 161 
Letter Writing 

General principles, 163-166 

Subjects, 166, 167 

Method, 168-173, 175. 176 

Model letters, 184, 185 

Notes, iQS 

Correction, 195, 196 
Narration 

General principles, 198 

General method, 199-203 

Models, 206, 207 

Notes, 209 
Description 

Models, 312, 214 

Notes, 220 
Exposition 

Models, 223, 224 

Notes, 226 

Correction, 227-235 

General suggestions, 236-241 
Grammar 

General principles, 242-252 
Correction of Errors 

General principles, 253-255 

Selection, 260 

Formal study, 275-279 

Sixth Year — Second Half 

Overcoming Defects in Speech 

Underlying principles, 30 

Aims, 31, 32 

Methods, 32-40 
Reading by Class 

Standards, 41, 42 

Teaching of technique, 42, 43 

Aims, 43 

Methods, 44-48 
Reading to Class 

Aims, 49 

Selection of story, 49, 50 

Method, 50-52 
Story Telling 

Aims, 93 

Selection of story, 93, 94, 98 

Method, 95, 96, 99-107 



Memory Gems 

Underlying principles, io8, 109, 
111-113 

Aims, no. III 

"The Village Blacksmith," 113- 
116 

"Gettysburg Address," 116-117 
Spelling 

Underlying principles, 119 

Selection of words, 119, 120 

Method, 120-130 
Dictation 

Underlying principles, 131, 132 

Principle of selection, 133 

Method, 133-140 
Composition 

Underliyng principles, 141-147 
Selection of Models 

Letters, 150 

Description, 152 

Narration, 154 

Exposition, 156 

Study of models, 158, 160, 161 
Letter Writing 

General principles, 163-166 

Subjects, 166, 167 

Method, 168-173, 175, 176 

Model letters, 184, 185 

Notes, 195 

Correction, 195, 196 
Narration 

General principles, 198 

General method, 199-203 

Models, 207 

Notes, 209 
Description 

Models, 215, 216 

Notes, 220, 221 
Exposition 

Models, 224, 225 

Notes, 226 

Correction, 227-235 

General suggestions, 236-241 
Grammar 

General principles, 242-252 
Correction of Errors 

General principles, 253-255 

Selection, 260 

Formal study, 279, 281 



INDEX BY GRADES 



297 



Seventh Year — First Half 

Overcoming Defects in Speech 

Underlying principles, 30 

Aims, 31, 32 

Methods, 32-40 
Stitdy of the Masterpiece 

Underlying principles, 53-56 

Selection, 56, 57 

General method, 57-61 
Selected Studies 

Courtship of Miles Standish, 61- 

73 

Enoch Arden, 75-81 

Franklin's Autobiography, 82-85 

Rip Van Winkle, 85-92 
Memory Gems 

Underlying principles, 108, 109, 
III, 113 

Aims, no. III 
Spelling 

Underlying principles, 119 

Selection of words, 119, 120 

Method, 120-130 
Dictation 

Underlying principles, 131, 132 

Principle of selection, 133 

Method, 133-140 
Composition 

Underlying principles, 141-147 
Letter Writing 

General principles, 163-166 

Subjects, 166, 167 

Method, 168-173, 175. 176 

Models, 186-194 

Correction, 227-235 

General suggestions, 236-241 
Grammar 

General principles, 242-252 

Formal study, 281, 282 

Seventh Year — Second Half 

Overcoming Defects m Speech 

Underlying principles, 30 

Aims, 31, 32 

Methods, 32-40 
Study of the Masterpiece 

Underlying principles, 53-56 

Selection, 56, 57 

General method, 57-61 



Selected Studies 

Courtship of Miles Standish, 61- 
73 

Enoch Arden, 75-81 

Franklin's Autobiography, 82-85 

Rip Van Winkle, 85-92 
Memory Gems 

Underlying principles, 108, 109, 
111-113 

Aims, no. III 
Spelling 

Underlying principles, 119 

Selection of words, 119, 120 

Method, 120-130 
Dictation 

Underlying principles, 131, 132 

Principle of selection, 133 

Method, 133-140 
Composition 

Underlying principles, 141-147 
Letter Writing 

General principles, 163-166 

Subjects, 166, 167 

Method, 168-173, 175, 176 

Models, 186-194 

Correction, 227-235 
General suggestions, 236-241 
Grammar 

General principles, 242-252 

Formal study, 282, 283 

Eighth Year — First Half 

Overcoming Defects in Speech 

Underlying principles, 30 

Aims, 31, 32 

Methods, 32-40 
Study of the Masterpiece 

Underlying principles, 53-56 

Selection, 56, 57 

General method, 57-61 
Selected Studies 

Courtship of Miles Standish, 61- 

73 
Enoch Arden, 75-81 
Franklin's Autobiography, 82-85 
Rip Van Winkle, 85-92 
Memory Gems 

Underlying principles, 108, 109, 

III, 113 
Aims, no, in 



298 



INDEX BY GRADES 



Spelling 

Underlying principles, 119 

Selection of words, 119, 120 

Method, 120-130 
Dictation 

Underlying principles, 131, 132 

Principle of selection, 133 

Method, 133-140 
Composition 

Underlying principles, 141-147 
Letter Writing 

General principles, 163-166 

Subjects, 166, 167 

Method, 168-173, 175, 176 

Models, 186-194 

Correction, 227-235 

General suggestions, 236-241 
Grammar 

General principles, 242-252 

Formal study, 283-290 

Eighth Year — Second Half 

Overcoming Deeects in Speech 
Underlying principles, 30 
Aims, 31, 32 
Methods, 32-40 

Study of the Masterpiece 
Underlying principles, 53-56 
Selection, 56, 57 
General method, 57-61 



Selected Studies 

Courtship of Miles Standish, 61- 
73 

Enoch Arden, 75-81 

Franklin's Autobiography, 82-85 

Rip Van Winkle, 85-92 
Memory Gems 

Underlying principles, 108, 109, 
111-113 

Aims, no, in 
Spelling 

Underlying principles, 119 

Selection of words, 119, 120 

Method, 120-130 
Dictation 

Underlying principles, 131, 132 

Principle of selection, 133 

Method, 133-140 
Composition 

Underlying principles, 141-147 
Letter Writing 

General principles, 163-166 

Subjects, 166, 167 

Method, 168-173, 175, 176 

Models, 186-194 

Correction, 227-235 

General suggestions, 236-241 
Grammar 

General principles, 242-252 

Formal study, 283-290 



INDEX 



Composition 

Correction, 195, 196, 227 et seq. 

Code, 234 
Devices, 236, 241 
Means of self-expression, 141, 142 
Method, 143-147 inc. 

Discussion of, 143-147 inc. 
In Description, 215-221 
In Exposition, 225-226 
In Letter Writing, 164-167, 186 
In Narration, 198-203 
Suggestions, 146, 147 
Theory of, 141, 142 
Models, nature of, 4th, 5th, and 6th 
years 
Description, 151, 152 
Exposition, 155, 156 
Letter writing, 149, 150 
Narration, 153, 154 
How used, 157-161 
Description, 215-221 
Exposition, 225, 226 
Letter writing, 169-172, 196 
Narration, 199-203, 208, 209 
Study of. 

Graded Selection, 4th, sth, and 

6th years, 149-156 
Reasons for, 148 
Model Descriptions, 21 1-2 15 
Model Expositions, 222-225 
Model Letters, 173-194 
Model Narrations, 203-207 
Rewriting, 201 

Subject, selection of, 142, 143 
Technique, 144, 145 
Treatment, comparison of former 
and present methods, 141, 142 
Concert Work 
In Memory Gems, 109 
In Phonics, 21, 22 
Correct Speech 
Drill on Common Errors, 227-230 
Real test of, 227 



Development of taste in children's 

reading, 49 
Diacritical Mark's 
Their use in teaching reading decried, 

14, IS 
Their substitute — sight words lead- 
ing to phonics, 15, 19, 20 
Their proper use, 31 
Dictation 

Characteristics of, 131, 132 
Choice of selections, 132, 133 
Content, interest therein not to over- 
shadow formal element, 132 
Forms of, 134 
Method, 134-136 
Methods of correction, 136, 137 
Model lessons, 138, 139 
Necessity for, 131, 132 
"Enoch Aeden" 

Detailed method- whole, 75-81 
Enunciation, Faulty 

Causes and treatment, 22, 23 
Ethical Principle 
Necessary in masterpieces studied, 
55. 56 
Franklin's Autobiography 

Detailed method-whole, 82-85 
Grammar 
Development in its teaching, 242- 

248 
Errors in common speech 

Basis for grammatical work, 248, 

250 
Causes classified, 248-250 
Correction, method 

ist and 2nd years, 255-258 
3rd year, 258 
4th year, 259 
5 th year, 260 
6th year, 260 
Formal study 
In Fourth Year — ist half, 262-268 
In Foiurth year — 2nd half, 268-271 



300 



INDEX 



Grammar 

Formal study ^ 

In Fifth year — ist half, 271-273 
In Fifth year — 2nd half, 273-275 
In Sixth year — ist half, 275-279 
In Sixth year — 2nd half, 279-281 
In Seventh year — ist half, 281-282 
In Seventh year — 2nd half, 282- 

283 
In Eighth year, 283-289 
Mode of approach, 262-268 
Usual method incorrect, 261 
In Chinese education, 242, 243 
In Roman education, 243, 244 
In Middle Ages, 245, 246 
In Modern education, 246, 248 
Method, general principle, 248 
Method, specific, 262-283 
Group-Work 

Modern reading method demands 
it, 10 
Inductive Development 

Not always to be employed, 139 
Masterpieces 

Not to be pharaphrased, 58 
Study of 

Method, 57-59 

Necessity for culture, and knowl- 
edge of subject-matter on part 
of teacher, 60, 61 
Place in elementary schools, 53 
True function, 55 
Value of, 53 

Warnings in connection with, 
53-55 
Meaning of Words 

Inseparable from spelling, 119 
Method of teaching, 125, 126 
Memory Gems 
Function of, 108 
Method of teaching, 111-118 
Principles of selection, 109-112 
Methods 

In various subjects (See index under 
subject in question) . 
"Miles Standish" 

Detailed method-whole, 61-71 
Models, for composition study, 4th, 
5th, and 6th years 
Description, 151-152, 211-215 
Exposition, 155-156, 222-225 



Letter writing, 149, 150, 173-175, 177- 
194 
Narration, 153, 154, 203-207 
Method of use, 157-161, 194, 201, 
202, 208, 209, 216-221, 225, 226 
Oral Reproduction of Stories 
Aim, 93 
Details of method and devices, 

95-107 
Principles of selection, 93, 94 
Suggestions in method, 95, 96 
Perception Cards 

Use in reading, 16, 17 
Use in spelhng, 120, 122 et seq. 
Phonics 

Concert work to be generally avoided, 
21, 22 
Devices, 23-27 

Drill on blend, 23, 24 , 

Elements from sight words, 15- 

17 
New combinations of elements, 17- 

20 
Suggested exercises for interme- 
diate grades, 33 et seq. 
Work not to end in third year, 30 
Reading 

Change in methods of teaching, 1-4 
Faulty — possible causes, 41 
For content 

OutUne of model lesson treatment 
in intermediate grades, 43-47 
Formal drill 
Necessity for at some time in 

course, 7 
Neglected through overemphasis 

on interesting content, 6 
Motivation furnished by modern 
method, 7 
Lesson — aim necessary, 41 
Oral 
Necessary qualities, 31 
Common defects and their treat- 
ment, 31-33 
Primary 

Aim — defined, 13 

Aim — ■ how attained, 14-20 

Modem methods 

Based upon (i) Interest in the 
famiUar (2) Love of rhythmic 
cadence, 8, 9 



INDEX 



30I 



Teaching of, in large cities — com- 
plexity of problem, i 
Technique 

Emphasis on its importance causes 

certain methods, 3 
Formal work in intermediate 

grades, 42, 43 
Possible neglect through too much 

stress upon content, 6 
Teacher's model for imitation, 42, 
43 
To class 
Aims, 49 
Method, 49 

Nature of selections, 49 
"Rip Van Winkle" 

Detailed method-whole, 82-92 
Spelling 

Cimiulative syllabic method, 124, 
126 



Devices, 127-129 

Fundamental principles in teaching 
of, 121-122 

Lessons — frequency and duration, 
120 — method, 120, 122 et seq. 

Reasons for teaching meanings con- 
currently, 119 

Syllabication, 123-125 

Words, bases of selection, 119, 
120 

Written, correction of, 126, 128 
Syllabication 

Not a part of expression, 126 

When and how to use, 123, 124 

Syllabic method in oral spelling, 
124, 125 
Technique 

Composition, 144, 145 

Reading, 2, 3, 7, 42, 43 



APR 22 



